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But because every fiber of my being was dragging me back to her side.
The bond between a dragon shifter and his mate was a codependent one, which was why most of us avoided it like the plague.
A dragon couldn’t fly without his mate. Shifting without her at his side became physically impossible. His mate, on the other hand, would go into heat every month after sealing the bond. It was a week of hell for her, month after month, if he didn’t soothe it for her.
Dragon shifters were always born male, so our mountains were the safest places for us. No unmated women were allowed there, ever. When a female dragon was born, she was born human, and raised among others like her.
The rest of us stayed out of their towns and cities as much as possible to avoid being chained to a mate, never interacting with human women if we could help it.
But it was obviously too late for me.
Now, I had to survive heat.
Brynn waved me toward her, so I reluctantly made my way out. When she gestured, I sat down on the porch’s wooden planks beside her.
“Jas and Eli are on their way. Apparently, they have a few other guys from the thunder with them,” she said.
I ran a hand through my hair. “They’ll want to make sure I’ve actually sent my female into heat."
“Your female?” She eyed me.
“A female,” I corrected.
It felt like a lie.
Sounded like one, too.
Hell, it even irritated me a little to consider that Elodie might not be mine.
It irritated me more to know that she’d already decided I was an asshole. It was for the better—but pissed me off anyway.
“What will they do when they realize it’s the truth?” Bash asked.
I shouldn’t have answered.
I shouldn’t have told them a damn thing about dragons, or our heat. But they were family, and I was tired of keeping things from them.
And as loyal as I was to the thunder I’d been running for three decades, I thought my sister deserved most of the truth. Some things had to be kept secret.
“They’ll wait until after it’s over to lock me up. If we seal the bond, they’ll lock her up too.”
Brynn’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“They would have to. I’d go insane without her.” Not having access to my wings, while being locked in prison?
It would be a death sentence.
The thunder wanted to punish me, but it was only six months of imprisonment. I’d make it through, if I wasn’t mated.
And I sure as hell wasn’t about to be the reason my mate went to jail, or spent six months surrounded by dangerous supernaturals who wanted her dead just because she was mine. She was human; she wouldn’t even be able to protect herself without me.
“So you can’t seal the bond.” Brynn sighed. “It’s too bad. I like her.”
“You barely know her,” I said.
“She thought she was rescuing me from you when she interrupted us, and did it even though she was clearly scared. That’s all I need to know.”
“If most dragons don’t make it through heat without a bond, it might be best to separate yourself from her entirely,” Bash suggested.
