Through the mate bond, she felt Rune's protective rage blazing like an inferno. Just when he'd finally surrendered to love, just when he'd opened his heart and claimed his mate publicly, everything he loved was being threatened.
No,she thought fiercely, her own protective instincts surging to match his.Elias can't destroy this. Elias can't take away what we've just found.
This was supposed to be the night of celebration, of new beginnings, and hope for the future.
Instead, it had become the night everything they'd built together would be put to the ultimate test.
TWENTY
RUNE
The ancient fury that had slumbered in Rune's chest for three centuries erupted like molten lava as the enforcer's words echoed through the ballroom. Fifty hostile dragons. Minutes away. His clan—hisentireclan—gathered in one location because he'd invited them here to celebrate the mate bond he'd finally allowed himself to claim.
Elias.
The name burned through his mind with the certainty of prophecy. The rogue dragon had been circling like a carrion bird, waiting for exactly this moment of weakness—when Rune's heart was finally open, finally vulnerable, finally worth destroying.
Through their newly completed bond, he felt Maple's fierce determination blazing like a beacon beside his own protective rage. She wasn't cowering or panicking. She was preparing to fight for his people as fiercely as he would.
His magnificent, brave mate.
"Maple," he commanded, his voice cutting through the rising chaos as clan members began panicking. "Find Jackie and Ben. Get to the reinforced chambers beneath the mansion. Now."
Her green eyes flashed with stubborn fire that would have been breathtaking under different circumstances. "I'm not letting these people become sitting ducks while I hide in some underground bunker."
She stepped closer, her chin lifted in defiance that made his dragon roar with both pride and terror. "I'm going to help get them to safety. All of them."
Of course she was.
His fierce, reckless mate who'd already told him she would risk herself for people she loved—and she was beginning to love his clan with the same fierce loyalty that had driven her to save Ben from Serena's thugs.
The logical part of his mind screamed that he should throw her over his shoulder and lock her away where Elias couldn't touch her. But he'd learned enough about Maple Westen in their short time together to know that fighting her protective instincts would be like trying to stop a wildfire with his bare hands.
"Fine," he growled, his hands fisting at his sides. "But if you sense something you can't handle—anything at all—you call for me through our link immediately. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I understand," she said, her voice steady despite the chaos erupting around them.
Before he could second-guess himself, he pulled her against him and claimed her mouth in a kiss that tasted of desperation and promises. She kissed him back with equal intensity, pouring her love and determination into the connection between them.
When they broke apart, her eyes were blazing with the same protective fire that burned in his chest.
"Go," he said roughly. "Keep them safe."
Then he was moving, Kade falling into step beside him with the fluid precision of four centuries of partnership. They'd barely reached the ballroom doors when the sound of running footsteps echoed behind them.
Rune spun around, expecting to see Maple following despite his orders. Instead, he found something that stopped him cold.
At least fifty of his clan members were streaming after them—dragons of all ages, from ancient elders to young adults barely past their first shift. Their faces were grim with determination, their eyes blazing with protective fury.
"Alpha," called Martin, the elderly dragon who'd greeted Maple so warmly just minutes ago. "We stand with you."
"You have given us hope again," added Sarah, a fierce female warrior who'd served his family for two centuries. "We will not let them destroy what you're building here."
Others echoed their sentiments as they gathered around him.
"We protect our own."
"No rogue takes our Alpha's mate and future happiness."
