Page 11 of Dragon King’s Bullied Mate

Mikael knew he was missing a big, more important, part of the story. Something had happened to even facilitate the conversation, and he desperately wanted an explanation of those words. Even in his current state, he could hear bitterness that didn’t belong, even after she had specifically made a dragon a friend instead of a foe. Maybe later he would remember to ask her.

“But if I trust it, do you think a dragon could protect me, Lyra?”

“Come here, you.” He heard her give the little boy a hug. “I’m here to protect you, and I’m meaner than any old dragon. You know I would never let anything hurt you.”

“Or anyone?”

The fear in his voice resonated through Mikael. Whoever the child was afraid of, whoever had hurt him, would meet a dragon one day. He would be certain of it. And then Beckett would never wonder again.

“Or anyone. Now, young man, we have to get you ready for bed.”

“Already?” he protested.

He knew the instant she left the room. It was almost as if the air shifted to something heavy and oppressive without her presence.

His dragon stirred again. Safe.

The word did not come as sound but as instinct, as certainty that rolled through him like distant thunder. He already knew she was safe, but maybe the dragon meant to keep Lyra and Beckett safe.

Or maybe even his own safety. Was he in danger? Mikael, suspended somewhere between sleep and waking, could not focus on the question. His body, still broken but mending, settled. The heat beneath his skin no longer raged, soothed by the simple truth his dragon clung to.

She was safe, and because of that, he could rest.

Morning came not as light, but as sound. A sharp, jarring noise cut through the quiet and dragged Mikael upward from the depths.

A ringing, persistent and close, but slightly muffled.

He frowned faintly, the movement small but real as consciousness pressed harder against him.

“Where the hell is my cell phone?” He heard Lyra fumble around. “In my jacket pocket, of course.”

“Hello?” Lyra spoke close by and though he couldn’t understand why, the single word carried an edge he had not heard from her until now.

Silence stretched for a moment, one-sided, filled with whatever response came from the other end of the device she held, and then her breath caught.

“What do you mean—” she started, and stopped, as though whatever answer came next had struck harder than expected. Her voice went from normal to hard as steel in a matter of a few words.

Mikael tried to follow the conversation, but in his state, it wasn’t an easy task.

He tried to pull the scattered pieces of awareness together, so the words made sense. He wanted to understand the sudden tension that laced through her voice, but it slipped through him like everything else, too fractured to hold.

“…no, he can’t expect…” Her voice broke slightly before she steadied it with effort, though the strain remained beneath it, “he’s not… I won’t… you said this wouldn’t happen.”

“…I understand,” Lyra said, though it was clear she did not, “and I realize that I have to abide by the rules,” her words sounded dangerously close to anger, “but you don’t understand. He’s not ready and I refuse to believe there’s nothing that can be done about it.” He felt her fear spike again.

“After what that man did, you can’t simply tell me to…”

Mikael’s thoughts struggled, dragging themselves toward that sensation, toward the fragile, unguarded emotion that did not belong in this space.

Protect.

The instinct rose just as strongly as the others and surged through his chest with a sudden, fierce clarity that cut deeper than thought.

Protect.

But he couldn’t move and for whatever reason, his dragon couldn’t help.

“…we’ll talk later,” Lyra said at last, the words controlled in a way that suggested the emotion beneath them had not lessened. “I have to go.”