Without further thought, I wrapped my free hand around his jaw, clamping his mouth shut. I then stomped my heel down on his foot with all my might. He swore and let go of my hand, and I pushed him away from me. “Don’t you ever threaten me with a claiming. I will kill you before I let you bite me. Even if I wanted to stay in this agreement, a claiming was never part of the deal. It will never happen. I’ll tell them I’m out. You can find someone else. And that’s that.” I then turned and walked to the front
“They will kill you for changing your mind!” he shouted after me.
I turned slightly. “Lower your voice. And I’m not scared of them.”
“You should be. You don’t just change your mi-”
“Jalisa?” a voice called from behind me.
I turned back to see a ghost from my past. My heart froze, and a crash of emotions overtook me, pausing me in memories. Love, hate, sadness, regret. I wanted to cry, shout in anger, pound against his chest, and even hug him. Mostly, I felt relief. I couldn’t explain why, but it was the first thing that entered my mind.
He wasn’t who I wanted to see, but perhaps he was who I needed to see. A plan, an incredibly crazy one, popped into myhead, and in my desperate situation, I had no other option but to give it a go.
For the second time that evening, I pasted a smile on my face. “Ivan, my love. So happy you’re here. I was explaining to this man, the one the court arranged for me to marry, that we couldn’t marry because you and I are in love and deserve to be together. Right?”
Ivan Icetower, the former love of my life and the one who had broken my heart into a million pieces, stood there with a look of shock on his face. His emerald, green eyes, framed by inviable long dark lashes, displaying the mix of emotions I was feeling. He was still handsome after these several years. He was tall with an alpha’s broad shoulders and light olive skin, tanned by the sun. Except for his longer wheat-colored hair, tousled but not detracting from his handsomeness, he looked the same. The same strong jaw, covered slightly by stubble, and full lips pressed tightly together now. He was still muscular, as evidenced by the way his dark blue shirt clung expertly over his defined arms and chest. I hoped he was the same inside as well. Kind enough to help those in need.
I’d found my way out of my impending nuptials. I just needed him to play along. It had a low chance of working, but it was all there was right now. He needed to say yes.
Gods let him say yes.
Chapter Two
Ivan
Earlier
Love was in the air everywhere I looked, and it was making me sick. I glanced across the table at my best friend Aaron, his arm tossed over the shoulder of his wife, Melina. They looked into each other’s eyes with a look so loving I felt like a voyeur watching them. Next to me was my other friend Luca, laughing quietly with his woman, Lila, over some joke only the two of them knew.
I rolled my eyes and looked around the pub bustling full of laughter, music from the band on stage, and the aroma ofsmoked meats and sweet elixirs. It was a Friday evening, one of the busier nights in our realm. Despite our need to distinguish ourselves from the human realm, we’d adopted similar structures in our lives, except Thursdays were the beginning of most of our days of no work until Monday rolled around again. Tonight, most were in full relaxation mode. The dim lights from the floating orbs above and the plush leather seating around round wooden tables in the large space only furthered the jovial atmosphere, enticing more drinking and eating from the partiers. Everybody was happy and beautiful.
I slammed my hand down on the table, shaking the drinks and spilling some of the liquid. The couples around me paused their intimate stares and looked at me with shocked faces. I slid my chair back, making an unnecessarily loud noise as the wooden legs scratched over the hard wood floor. “I’m going home.”
Aaron raised a hand in the air, his almond-shaped silver eyes wide with concern. “Mate, why are you leaving so soon?”
I grimaced. “Because I didn’t realize this was going to be couples’ night. I thought it would be just us males, checking out this bar I’d never been to. Maybe meet the love of my life.” I could only hope.
Melina pouted, flipping her long blue braids over her shoulder. “I thought you liked us?”
I softened my face, not wanting to seem like a total asshole. “I do. However, I didn’t think I’d have to see so much of you.”
She narrowed her ruby red eyes. They seemed to blaze like fire against her deep brown skin, and I thought, perhaps I wasn’t being as sensitive as I intended. “Do you want to make an enemy of me?”
Lila shook her head, her big, curly honey-brown hair bouncing with her movements, a haughty look on her face. “Same. And I wanted to talk to you about ice dragons.” She was not of our realm. Originally from the human realm, she had been banishedhere by a witch who was part of a former alliance with my kingdom. That ended with our defeat, which I was far from upset about, and Lila had chosen to stay. Finding love and shit.
Seriously, even in the worst situations, these people had found their mates. Melina and Aaron were part of the arranged marriages under the treaty, and they’d ended up being a perfect match. Luca and his pack had practically kidnapped Lila, and now she decided to abandon her realm to stay with them. How could I get such luck?
Lila leaned an elbow on the table, giving me quizzical hazel eyes. “Seriously, I can’t believe I’m just now finding out that you’re an ice dragon. Why’d you keep it a secret for so long?”
Apparently, Lila was half ice mage, half ice dragon. Dragons were a rarity, and it was in our best interest to limit the amount of people who knew of us. For our safety and our freedom. When I served in the military in Nodoor, my leadership knew, and it ultimately served me in rising through the ranks, but I was used almost beyond capacity. When the war ended, I was thankful, and when Aaron was assigned to marry and move to Prinath, I took not a second to follow him. I actually had an ulterior motive that I kept to myself. I liked to keep my level of crazy a secret. Ultimately, I ended up still working for the military but as a trainer. And no one knew of my background.
After being in Prinath for almost six months now, the only other person besides Aaron who knew was Luca. When he mentioned Lila was looking for more information about ice dragons, I was open to sharing. But not tonight. I sighed and looked at Lila, forcing a smile on my face. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to help a fellow dragon, especially an ice dragon. It was that I didn’t want to do it on my weekend night. “I’d be happy to talk to you about our kind tomorrow, during the day, over food. Maybe bring some of your baked goods from your shop.”
She tilted her head from side to side, considering my words. “You’re right. I think, maybe, Melina and I are ruining your vibe.”
I raised a brow, confused. “Once again you are using a human term, I know nothing about.”
“It’s like your feel or aura. You can’t project that you are a single male open to receive flirtations from others. We’re cock blocking.”
