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I grabbed the cell phone on my desk and hit speed dial before I could talk myself out of it. I felt the need to hear Noah’s voice. I needed an anchor: someone who could keep me grounded in reality and remind me who I really was. Or at least the person I wanted to be. My dragon didn’t like the idea and nudged against me hard.
But the phone rang and rang and finally went to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message.
Tsk, tsk, Rena. You fool yourself if you believe he has the power to help you. I am your true lifemate. You should come to me with your needs.
“Stay out of my head. And I wouldn’t go to you for my needs if you were the last dragon on Earth.”
You’ll regret those words. Your fire is already burning for me, just with the sound of my voice. Your passion speaks the truth, while your brain tells you lies.
“Leave me alone.”
You know I cannot. The party has started and we are without a guest of honor. Olaf will escort you down.
A soft knock sounded at the door. I checked myself in the mirror one last time before going to answer it. I’d left my hair down, so it covered my shoulders and helped alleviate the nakedness I felt. I opened the door, and just as Julian said, Olaf was waiting for me. He followed closely behind me as I maneuvered down the stairs in my heels.
Julian stood at the bottom, and the look of possession in his eyes made me want to turn around and run back to my room. The black tuxedo fit him to perfection and he looked even more devastatingly handsome than the last time I’d seen him. Lack of attraction between us definitely wasn’t the problem. His hair hung long and loose against his shoulders and his eyes were fierce and penetrating as they looked me over from head to toe. I stopped where I stood.
You’re not a coward, Rena. Come to me.He took a step forward and held out a single red rose.
“Stay out of my head,” I said again. I accepted the rose with a gracious nod. Tonight wasn’t the time for pettiness.
“I see your disobedience this afternoon was well warranted if this is what you escaped my walls to buy.” His gaze was enough to start the glow of blue fire just under my skin.
“Stop it,” I hissed. My own angry fire ate at the gentle blue flames until they were completely gone. “I’d prefer to meet your people without my clothes turning to ashes.”
“Very well,” he said, obviously disappointed. “Has anyone ever told you how magnificent you are when you’re angry?”
I growled and my anger escalated. But then something incredible happened. My rage physically jumped from my body to Julian’s. It then dissipated and fizzled into nothingness. I felt as calm as I ever had.
“Relax, little one,” he said.
My mouth hung open from how easily he’d taken away my anger. There was a link between the two of us, almost like an invisible thread that attached our emotions. I thought back to what Esmerelda had said about absorbing others’ powers, but I hadn’t realized he could do the same with emotions. He leaned down as if he were going to kiss me.
“No, absolutely not.” I put my hands against his chest to push him away. Big mistake. The planes of muscle under his shirt were solid beneath my fingers, and I found myself grasping hold instead of pushing away.
“Why?” I asked, though it sounded more like pleading.
He knew what I was asking even though I wasn’t sure I knew myself. “Because we are meant for each other. Stop fighting it.”
“I don’t want this.”
“You lie.” His voice whispered across my skin. “Your resistance wears thin. I know you want me. I can smell your desire. You won’t be able to fight me much longer, Rena. Now come, we have guests to greet.”
I followed him into the throne room where we’d shared our dream. I looked around the room. Long trestle tables filled every space. A head table sat upon the platform where the thrones had been the day before. There were no decorations on the black granite walls or rugs scattered on the floor to give the room color. The candles in the chandeliers had been changed from white to black, giving off an eerie glow. Black velvet tablecloths draped across each table.
More than a thousand Drakán milled around the large room, and others were still arriving. “I didn’t expect for so many to come.”
“All my people are here. I demanded it. This will be a night of celebration, a time of judgment and sentencing for those who need it, and a time for all to renew their oaths to me. This will also give them the opportunity to meet my lifemate.”
“I am not your lifemate.”
“A technicality, one which I will thoroughly enjoy rectifying. I find it quite a coincidence that after all these centuries of spending our lives apart, you were forced to darken my doorstep as Enforcer. And then only to find yourself mated. Just think, Rena, if we’d come across each other centuries ago you’d already belong to me. You wouldn’t have put up the fight you are now.”
He brushed my hair back in an oddly intimate gesture so my shoulders were exposed. “Maybe you should ask yourself what the real reason is for denying me.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“No, neither do I. So I wonder what steps have really brought you here to me. Is the search for The Destroyer truly your idea? A simple step in your investigation? Or has someone manipulated events so you are here as a pawn in someone else’s game?”
