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A wave of her delicious scent blooms around me, and I carefully press my face to her neck where there aren’t any cuts. I feel my own scent glands tingle as they respond to my need to comfort and protect her, just as they did the first time I held her. As my scent wafts around her, she relaxes into me just a little.
“You’re doing it again,” she whispers drowsily. “That…something. I don’t know what it is, but you’re doing it.”
“I am.” How strange that she’s not conscious of my scent but her body still responds to it.
I carry her atop Scourge and settle her between my thighs, carefully making sure her shaking body is secure.
“I’m holding you so tightly,” I murmur, my lips against the top of her head. “You’re safe. You will never fall. Nothing can hurt you when you’re with me.”
Scourge’s body bunches beneath us, and then he launches into the air. My dragon undulates continuously as his wings beat and we gain height. These wavelike motions seem to upset Isavelle the most, and she whimpers and clutches my arm.
“I don’t like flying. I’m going to throw up.”
I pull her closer and tuck her face against my throat. “Breathe deeply. Close your eyes and take steady breaths.”
“You smell good,” she mumbles woozily a moment later. “Why do you smell so good? It’s like—like—oh, it’s gone again.”
My heart zooms around inside my chest. Did she catch my scent for a moment? Dragons’ teeth, I hope so. “I smell good to you because you’re my Omega.”
It’s thrilling to say it out loud.My Omega.I still can’t believe I’ve found her. What if I’d never woken up and she’d lived her whole life and died while I was still trapped beneath the mountain? Pain slices through my chest, and I hold her even tighter. This is the most precious thing that has ever happened to me. Isavelle will understand that I’m her Alpha and she’ll learn to trust me completely. I won’t waste this stars-sent chance.
“I’m your what?” she murmurs.
I suspected that she might have never heard the word, but her confirmation is no less disappointing. “You don’t know what an Omega is?”
“No. Should I?”
I press my face into her hair and take another breath of her. Bliss. Pure bliss. “Isavelle. Why do you think I’ve been searching for you for days and days in the midst of fighting for my country?”
Her voice is dreamy over the rushing wind. “I have no idea. I’m not important, or beautiful, or noble. I stopped trying to understand why the High Priest was so obsessed with me long ago. I suppose I’m one of those people who powerful people like to hurt.”
Fury and revulsion gather in my chest. Wherever this High Priest is hiding, I will find him, and I will shred the flesh from his bones.
“Zabriel? You feel…angry.”
I quickly push away the burning hot emotion and focus on soothing my mate. “I’m sorry. I was thinking about that High Priest. We’ve climbed as high as we’re going to, and Scourge is flying fast. It won’t be long until we reach our destination.”
We skim beneath the occasional cloud. The sky all around us is heavy with stars. I never fought for anything in my life as much as I’ve battled to reclaim each and every one of them.
But the fight isn’t over yet.
I was imprisoned in that mountain as an untested youth, but I’ve emerged to prove I’m a man. I will be the mate that Isavelle needs, and the ruler the people of Maledin deserve.
I wonder when my father felt like the rightful ruler of Maledin. Was it when they placed a crown on his head, or when he mated Mother? I wonder if he ever truly felt like a king, or if he was only playing a role. It makes my heart ache to think so poorly of my father, but he was a lazy king. A foolish king. He neglected the people and ignored the treachery that was brewing under his nose until we lost everything.
I gaze down at the girl nestled in my arms, her eyes gently closed and gripping a fistful of my cloak. I won’t make the same mistakes my father did. Isavelle needs me, but so do the people of Maledin. I will retake our lands, and they will never know such suffering again.
As Scourge makes his descent, I scour the ground in the hope that this place has remained the same after all these centuries. I visited these hot springs hundreds of times in the past. The only way to reach them, high in a mountain valley, is by dragon.
With a stiff beating of his wings, Scourge lands on a stretch of grass by a steep cliff. Moonlight bathes steaming pools of water with silver light.
Keeping a secure hold on Isavelle, I carry her to the ground and try to set her on her feet, but she has her fingers curled so tightly into my cloak. With a smile, I realize my Omega is clinging to me, just as I was always told she would.
Ifoundher.
I can’t believe the gods have granted me an Omega, and that I found her so soon after waking beneath the mountain.
Keeping hold of Isavelle, I unbuckle my armor with my other hand while Scourge uses his strong talons to clamber up the mountainside. He settles there to guard us and watch the skies.
