Mikolas Read online

  “I love you for being my partner, not my beta or my Alpha.”

  “There’s nothing you can do here. You can either kill him or join him. Your words mean nothing.” He said through the bursts of flame.

  “Much like your fire.”

  “You’re the one on your back with your belly exposed.”

  “Because I don’t care. I’m not afraid of you.” She realized that she wasn’t. Just like the earlier comparison she’d made to the monsters in the dark. She’d been afraid to turn off the light because then it could hurt her.

  But what if she wasn’t afraid of the dark? What if she turned off the light?

  “You don’t have to be afraid to be consumed. I mean, I like the taste of fear better than defiance, but it’s been so long since I’ve tasted it, it might make for a tasty meal.”

  She turned her head to the side as she had before when she’d invited his mate mark. “So do it. Take me.”

  “You think I won’t?”

  “I hope you will. Otherwise, you’re a lot of hot air and I was expecting an axis power kind of evil.”

  He tore at her throat and as the darkness filled her, she summoned her power again. Just like the flying, she suddenly knew instinctively how to beat it.

  If only she’d acknowledged the dragon part of herself sooner.

  No regrets, the new voice said.

  It was right, she was right. No regrets.

  Her power came as easily and as strongly as before—acknowledging her dragon hadn’t diminished her at all. It had only made her stronger. Just like Mikolas.

  It surrounded the darkness pouring into her and before long, she was draining it out of him. Mik struggled against her power, and even though she was the one on her back in a pose of submission, it was he who had to submit.

  She took and took, pulling the darkness out of him and taking it to some secret place she didn’t know she possessed.

  Voshkie wrapped all the doubt, fear, anger and hatred in the love she had for Mikolas and the love she had for her whole self.

  And the ugly darkness became like a pearl, cushioned in layer after layer of iridescence and light until it became too heavy, and it collapsed in on itself only to supernova and decimate all the dark things within its vast reach.

  Chapter 7

  When Mikolas became aware of himself, it was with the taste of blood on his mouth and fear in his heart.

  The creature on the ground next to him was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen—a gold dragon.

  Voshkie!

  Her wings were like hammered sheets of metal, her scales like gold armor, and on her belly, like iridescent pearls.

  Her eyes were closed and he saw ghouls slowly clawing toward them through the burning of ash of what had once been their brethren.

  “Voshkie, wake up.” He nudged her with his snout.

  She didn’t move.

  This was not the end. This wasn’t how things worked. Voshkie had to survive. The rest of the world was nothing without her.

  He nudged her again.

  Her chest wasn’t moving.

  He reminded himself that gold nymphs didn’t need to breathe.

  The ghouls closed in on them and as they leapt for Voshkie, something inside of him changed. It was an audible snap, at least to him.

  And he breathed fire.

  Not just any fire, but Alpha fire. The ghouls on the front lines were incinerated and those that were left ceased their advance.

  The implications of what that meant… Mikolas refused to accept it.

  If he was breathing Alpha fire, he’d lost that which mattered most to him—his brother and his mate.

  A roar was torn from him, and to his surprise, it was echoed back at him from the sky. He looked up to see Fabian, wings spread wide, also breathing Alpha fire.

  Ondrej, his brother, is all of his majesty with his mate on his back burning through the ghouls and the darkness that had gathered around Hidden Mountain.

  And the smallest sound from the still dragon in front of him.

  Her golden eyes open.

  She struggled to her feet. “What are you waiting for? Let’s fry these bastards.” Voshkie tossed him a sassy look over her shoulder and took to the skies.

  Even though every muscle in his body ached, every cell, he launched himself into the air after her.

  For a moment, he wondered if he was dead and this was heaven. Everything was as it should be, everything he’d dreamed of. It couldn’t be real.

  Even Fabian breathed Alpha fire. It was too good to be true.

  Until he saw a ghoul tear apart one of the Orlaith soldiers on the ground.

  He turned and dove for the ghoul before it could reach anyone else and crushed it in his claws.

  Ripping and tearing, breathing fire when it would come, he fought alongside his brothers, his mate, and the Orlaith to save Hidden Mountain.

  Krysanthe turned many of them to gold, and before long, the mountain was surrounded by macabre golden statuary and the dragons melted it down, sending the abominations back down into the earth.

  Back into Hidden Mountain to shore up what they’d broken.

  Finally, the ghouls stopped coming.

  In the aftermath, they all gathered outside the ruins of the entrance to the mountain, each retaking their human form.

  “I told you I’d find a way.” She put her hands on her hips as if she dared anyone to doubt her after everything that had happened.

  Krysanthe hugged her. “I knew you would. You always do.”

  He met his brother’s gaze and Ondrej nodded slowly. “I understand now. But she saved us all.”

  Ondrej embraced him. “I thought you were dead. I thought I’d lost her.” He grabbed Fabian and pulled him in close. “You too, fucker. Where have you been?”

  They broke apart and Fabian shook his head. “I was with Glorfindel. He’s been taken by goons working for Peter Breslin. They released me only after he agreed to give them gold.”

  “My father…” Krysanthe shook her head.

  “Princess, they have collars to keep shifters from Changing. They have an army more terrible than the ghouls. And Breslin.” Fabian shook his head. “He’s power mad. So we’re going to have to plan his rescue very carefully.”

  “You know, of course, this is a trap.” Ondrej said.

  “That doesn’t mean we’re not going to come for him anyway,” Voshkie said and took Krysanthe’s hand.

  “No. Of course, we will. But we need a plan,” Ondrej said.

  “What he would want us to do at the moment is see to the wounded and the dead,” Krysanthe said.

  “There’s something we have to do first.” Ondrej looked first to Mikolas and then to Voshkie. He took her hands.

  She turned to look back at Mikolas and while he had no idea what his brother was about to do, he did know that Ondrej would never hurt her. So he nodded encouragingly.

  “Today, you saved my life. My brother’s life.”

  Voshkie shook her head and said, “I didn’t do—”

  “Let me finish. Allow me to honor your gift and your sacrifice.”

  Mikolas sensed Voshkie’s discomfort, but he allowed Ondrej the latitude with his mate.

  “You have sacrificed.” Ondrej nodded. “You exposed a secret that could lead to your death. To suffering. You risked everything for my brother, for me, and for your people. You are the most worthy mate I could ask for my brother. But I don’t want to lose my brother. I don’t want to lose what’s left of the Drago Knights. Not because they’re my pack, not because I have to be Alpha, but because they’re my family.”

  Voshkie had tears in her eyes and as they fell down her face, they solidified into diamonds.

  “So you, Voshkie of the Orlaith, are now my family as well and I’m offering you a chance to join the Drago Knights. It seems that when we were threatened, what was left of us all became Alphas with the power and responsibility that comes with that. I ask you to give me the gift of your subm
ission as Alpha of Alphas. In return, I offer you myself. My brothers. I offer you family.” He nodded slowly. “I offer you honor before gold. Loyalty before gold—”

  “Brotherhood before gold,” Voshkie finished. She stood silently, with the diamonds falling freely.

  “Where we are more than our dragons. More than our blood.” Ondrej drew her closer and Voshkie allowed it. “If you don’t want this, I’ll release my brother from his vow to me. I want you to join the Drago Knights because it’s what you want, because you believe in what we stand for.”

  “Gods, yes.”

  Mikolas didn’t know he’d been holding his breath until she answered. It was like being punched in the gut with a wrecking ball.

  Ondrej released her and kissed both cheeks. “Welcome to the family, sister.”

  Voshkie hugged Fabian next and it was a clapping of fists on backs like the camaraderie found between two warriors. Then, it was Krysanthe.

  “I’ll hate diamonds forever now that I know they come from your tears,” Krys said.

  “No, you should wear them always, if you love me. They come from my joy.” She hugged the other nymph tight.

  Finally, it was Mikolas’s turn.

  He’d been content to wait, to allow the other people in her life who loved her and those who would love her to get their welcome out of the way.

  Mikolas had bigger plans.

  “Looks like you’re stuck with me, Mik.”

  Her voice didn’t contain any of its usual sass. She wasn’t telling him he was stuck with her, she was asking. After everything that happened today, after she’d just fought a war and almost died, she was still unsure of her place.

  Mikolas vowed he’d make sure she was never unsure again. Her place was by his side. In his arms.

  Underneath him, while he was thinking about it.

  Or maybe on top. He liked that, too.

  He drew her against him and for a moment, was simply content to hold her there. “So, you know there are no takebacks and no mulligans, right? This is forever. You spoke the words. You’re mine.”

  “And don’t you forget it,” she demanded.

  Chapter 8

  Later that night, after they’d seen to the wounded, the suffering and had repaired the mountain as best they could, Voshkie lay curled with her mate in their chambers.

  Only it wasn’t where she wanted to be.

  She always wanted to be with Mikolas, but being underground was starting to feel like being locked away. Voshkie wanted to be out under the stars.

  Among the stars.

  She wanted to fly with Mikolas, spread her wings and feel the wind rushing over them.

  “Wake up,” she whispered, eyes open wide and very close to his face.

  “That’s not creepy at all.” He tried to turn over. “Sleeping, woman.”

  “I don’t want to sleep. I want to fly.”

  “So go fly.”

  She frowned. “No,” Voshkie explained in a soft voice, as if she were speaking to a toddler. “I want to fly with you.”

  “We both almost died today. I think sleeping first is good.”

  “It’s too stuffy in here. It’s too underground.”

  He stretched. “Fine, but you know what happens when you chase the dragon?”

  “I get the horns?” She laughed. “Or is that the bull?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You better not be chasing horns on a bull shifter.”

  “All bull shifters are bullshitters.”

  He pounced on her, rolling her onto her back, and she didn’t even pretend like she didn’t love it.

  “You had some smartass thing like that to say about dragons, too, and look where you ended up. Nope, I think we’re going to have to wash out your mouth with soap so you stop saying such dirty things.”

  “Your cock doesn’t count as soap,” she teased, even though she’d just cupped him.

  “So this is the forever I signed up for, huh?”

  “Yeah.” She lifted her chin. “Suck it up, buttercup.”

  “I think I just will.” He darted down between her thighs and the second his tongue touched her, well, she was almost in heaven.

  Almost, because she wanted to spread her wings.

  She leapt away from him and headed toward the door.

  “That’s what we’re playing?”

  “Catch me if you can, dragon.”

  He was on her in a second and she fled up the stairs and through the twisting hallways to escape out into the night.

  As soon as the night air touched her face, her dragon form erupted from her skin and she was rocketed up into the sky.

  Voshkie didn’t need to see him to know that he was right behind her. They soared up higher and higher until she was sure they were going to touch the moon, but unlike Icarus and his wings, these didn’t burn.

  They were strong and sure, taking her exactly where she wanted to go.

  Just like her love for Mikolas and his for her.

  She looped into a vertical bank and he followed, pushing her forward and then they both dove down into a spin. The g-force made her dizzy, but it was like spinning on a carousel. Only diving toward the earth.

  He guided them out of the spin and back up into an Immelmann Maneuver before they evened out at a steady altitude.

  It was such a rush.

  Mikolas danced around her in the sky, gliding above her until he nudged against her pushing her toward a tall, snow-capped mountain.

  After the spinning, diving, and swirling, she was ready to touch the ground. If only to share the aftermath of the rush with him.

  Her landing was still a little rough, but he caught her and they crashed down into the snow together.

  “Is this what you wanted?” he asked.

  She looked up at the brightly burning stars that hung like glittering diamonds above them. She remembered the tears she’d cried, the joy she’d felt that was so new. So strange.

  “Yes, this is everything I’ve ever wanted.”

  “Me too.”

  She propped herself up and studied his face. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Even though I dragged you out of a sound sleep and made you chase me up a mountain and lay naked in the snow?”

  “I’m still going to punish you for that, but you’ll like it.”

  “Oh, will I?” She grinned. “What makes you so sure?”

  His expression turned serious. “Because I know you inside and out. I know that you love being chased, but not caught. You’d rather surrender because it’s what you want, not because you were bested. I know that you love it when I pretend to dominate you, but we both know I’m really serving you.”

  “I guess I’m a complicated creature.”

  “You’re perfect.”

  “I like that shit. You can keep saying that as much as it pleases you.” Even though she was naked in the snow, she wasn’t cold. In fact, heat suffused her from the inside out, making her feel a kind of warmth she’d never known, but now understood she couldn’t live without.

  “I’ll say it until you’re sick of it. You’re my fire, Voshkie. You’re more to me than gold.”

  She cupped his cheek. “Honor before gold. Loyalty before gold. Mikolas before gold.”

  He kissed her and Voshkie never knew she could feel so much from someone’s lips on hers. He painted a picture with that kiss—a future full of love, family, hope, and safety. All the things she’d never thought she could have for herself, they were right here in this dragon’s arms and with Drago Knights MC.

  Author’s Note : Voshkie and Mikolas found their way together, but there’s more to the big picture. Want to see them again, find out what happened to Glorfindel, and see what kind of trouble Aranka and Imre can stir up? Check them out in Imre: Drago Knights MC #3.

 

 

  ookFrom.Net