33. Riggs

33

Riggs

I'd come close to losing her.

Had felt it through the link—a pulsing heat that threatened to burn her alive. When the wind rose, and Tyrez was being blown backward despite the powerful beat of his wings—I knew.

I knew what she had to do.

So I swallowed my pride, as well as the anger, and told her to mate Tez. I'd placated myself by hoping that it would be purely a physical thing, that it would satisfy her cycle, and then we could resume life as a mated couple, without him.

But from the moment they'd started—I'd been forced to acknowledge the truth. The strength of the raw emotion blasting along the link—the way it hooked into my very soul—could only mean one thing.

Fate had destined Tez to be part of our matebond.

The blasted sword had known . It was as if an abyss opened beneath me—because it meant that I was in the hands of Fate as well. I had no idea what part Tez would play in saving the Dragon Empire, or Caliel, for that matter. But they seemed destined to be part of the greater whole.

My rage didn't give a damn what Fate decreed—Tez had handed Breana over to Victor. Only the fact that he'd now also saved her, on top of returning the sword, kept me from a complete meltdown.

How could I ever truly trust someone like that?

When the mating started, I walked away from Tyrez to kneel behind a tree. My body writhed with every touch, every hitched breath. Building to a fever's pitch, everything drawing painfully tight.

When they shattered, I did as well.

Then, round two.

And round three…

Time dissolved into sensation, and I lost count.

When I returned on shaking legs to my brother, who was hunkered down as a human beneath a tree while the wind howled, he merely slapped me on the shoulder as I dropped beside him. "Welcome to the IBTM Club ."

I raised a shaky brow. "The what?"

"The I've Been Thoroughly Mindfucked Club ."

"That's a club?"

He snorted a laugh. "Yeah. Everyone who is part of a multi-partner matebond totally belongs."

Well, I did feel—literally—mindfucked

"I think the wind is dropping," Tyrez stated. "Let's give it a go." He rose and embraced his Dragon.

With a wince, I climbed up on him and lowered my very sore butt into place. Flying would be infinitely preferable to being flown. As we rose into the air, my shoulders itched to sprout my own wings.

I now remembered flying. The rush of air over my wings, the heady sensation of diving and banking and soaring. The way the sunlight or moonlight painted the clouds, and of my breath frosting as I climbed higher and higher…

With that had come the longing to fly as a Dragon again. To truly, deeply mourn something's loss, you need to have experienced it to begin with.

You will fly again, Breana offered. She sounded sleepy. Content.

My heart twisted. But he'd saved her.

Damn right, I did. Tez's mindvoice was as arrogant as expected.

My reaction was a burst of pure hostility along the link. If she hadn't been in such a state ? —

This was fated, Riggs, Breana said. Are you denying that?

I ground my teeth, but it was the truth, and I knew it.

I'm here to stay. Tez sounded unbearably smug. Deal with it.

Before I could erupt, Breana stepped in. Riggs, cut Tez some slack. And Tez—don't be a dick.

Tez's snort carried through the link. I don't know how to be anything else.

He had a cynical tone, and if he had said it out loud, I wouldn't have caught the burst of pain that underscored the words. But his mindvoice revealed more than he likely intended.

Perhaps he sensed it. Being a bastard, he growled through the link, is why I'm still taking names and kicking ass, and not rotting six feet under.

He'd added the words to back me off, but instead they offered me a glimmer of understanding.

I'd grown up a prince. Although I'd scorned many of the benefits, that they'd been freely offered meant I hadn't lacked for much.

Tez had clearly experienced a much different life from my own. Maybe I did need to cut him some slack, especially now that he lived in my head.

If you two have finished growling at each other, I would like to sleep, Breana said.

I longed to wrap my arms around her and hold her close, and I had to stifle the fierce stab of jealousy as Tez did exactly that. But what I said was, Rest, both of you. We are coming.

Been there, done that. Amusement fizzed through Tez's mindvoice.

Up among the clouds, riding a Dragon, I rolled my eyes. As their awareness faded into sleep, I pulled my wet cloak closer around me and tried to find an unblistered stretch of butt on which to perch my weight.

Everything that was important to me was out there, waiting.

Thoughts of Mykal tore through me, and I gritted my teeth.

How could I leave him there?

Caliel will get him out, Breana vowed as she drifted off.

Caliel is in over his head, I growled through the link.

I sensed something undefinable from Tez, then. Just a quick surge, there and gone.

But he didn't tell me I was wrong…

Seen from the air, Jarsk wasn't very impressive.

A small scattering of lights glittered damply in the rain—we might have missed the town altogether if it weren't for Tyrez's sharp Dragon vision.

Despite our best efforts, we'd flown into a brisk headwind the entire way, and getting here had taken us way longer than expected. Even knowing she was safe, it had still been an experience I didn't wish to repeat.

My entire body yearned for her. I needed to feel her in my arms. She was my mate, and she'd been close to death. Between that and the situation Mykal was now in, my emotions teetered on a razor's edge.

Tyrez banked away from the town, and we followed the road connecting it to the docks on the river. I searched the darkness for the shelter that held Breana, but I knew Tyrez's beast eyes were far better than my own. My heart leaped when he closed his wings and dropped.

The ground seemed to come at us fast in the darkness, but engrossed as I was in reaching for her along the link, I didn't even notice.

As Tyrez swooped in to land, a herd of shaggy beasts broke free from the structure and bolted off into the pasture. The rain had dropped to a drizzle, and the low cloud engulfed everything in dense shadow. But I still spotted her climbing down the shelter's ladder.

I didn't remember jumping off my brother, or whether I ran or strode toward her. All I knew was the feeling of her running into my arms. I buried my face into her hair and inhaled hard, and then I was kissing her…

"Listen, Frankenbrawn, you have to let her breathe."

Frankenbrawn? It drove home that he was there. Even sensed him watching, and the burst of emotion from him indicated he wasn't enjoying it. Which only encouraged me to continue.

But Breana broke off and moved back, just enough to lay her hand along my cheek. "It's so good to touch you," she whispered.

My fingers trailed along her throat, pausing on the collar. I wanted to rip it off her, but I knew it would take a Watcher's ability.

She reached past my shoulder and stroked along one of my wing bones. I shuddered as lightning shot through me—I hadn't even realized they'd broken free. The danged things were like a mood ring.

Her eyes lit icy blue. "Mmm. Wings."

"Okay, you two, that's enough," Tez complained. His eyes were flashing with color.

"Welcome to the IBTM club," I muttered.

"The what?" he asked.

We were interrupted by Tyrez emerging from the gloom. "We'd best gets outs of here," my brother rumbled.

Tez's eyes widened. "That—that is the biggest fucking Dragon I've ever seen." Then he winced when the tiny bird on his shoulder pecked him hard in the side of the neck.

I snorted a laugh. "Tez, meet my brother, Tyrez. You guys can form your own club for almost having the same danged name."

They stared at each other, and then glared at me.

Tez's eyes narrowed. "So if you're a fu—ricking Dragon, why are you riding rather than flying? You guys saving on gas?"

Breana put a hand on his arm. "Riggs can't shift right now. And what is this gas? Does it need saving?"

Tez's dark brows dropped, but when he opened his mouth to utter the next annoying comment, Tyrez blasted steam in the cool, damp air.

Tez took an involuntary step back as my brother repeated, "Times to go."

My heart twisted. Because although we now had Breana, there was another who needed me.

Tyrez knew me well. "Yous cannots helps Mykal," he rumbled. "We needs to makes a plans to rescue him."

Breana looked up at me, and I sensed her fear. "You cannot go after him."

It was brutally hard to not do so. To wrap one arm around Breana instead, and head toward my brother. But she dragged against my arm.

We both turned to see that Tez hadn't moved.

"Come on, Tez," Breana stated, but there was a tremble in her voice.

I looked at him, and I knew. "You aren't coming, are you." It was a statement, not a question.

"No, I'm not," he said.

Breana broke away from me and ran to him, taking his hand. "You have to come with us. You'll be safe from the Priesthood. It's the only way." She paused, and took a deep breath. "You belong with us."

Tez's lips curled up, but his expression was one of regret. "So does Caliel."

Breana froze.

Tez's gaze moved to me. "Tell me I'm wrong," he said.

I swallowed. But I'd felt it too. "You're not wrong."

"I can't feel him anymore," Breana said with anguish in her voice.

Tez reached out to push her hair off her shoulder. " I'm sorry. But there is no other way, Mi tesoro ."

She blinked away tears. "What does that mean?" she whispered.

"My treasure," he responded. He folded his hand around the back of her head, and lowered his to claim her lips.

My wings spread in protest, and I sensed his pulse of cocky humor through our link. Bastard. The word fit him better than most.

I know, he replied, as he pulled her hard into him.

I had to look away. But the IBTM club was relentless. By the time they broke apart, I was in a complete state.

His eyes flashed at me as he smiled. "Have a good flight. Your ears won't pop if you chew gum." He turned his back on us and walked away, heading for the road, and the river.

Bree hugged herself. I came up from behind and wrapped my arms over top of her.

"What is gum and why does chewing it stop your ears popping?" she whispered.

"It's a human thing." She trembled in my arms, and I pulled her close. "He'll be okay," I said. "Tez knows what he's doing."

"I didn't think you liked him," she said, her voice shaking.

"I don't." And I didn't. But then I sighed, and gave her the important bit. "But you don't have to like a guy, to respect him."

With the wind behind us, we made good time to the rock ridge.

I had Breana nestled tight against me and spent the entire trip with her pinned between my thighs and my head lowered to hers. Her hair had come loose from the hairpins, and it engulfed me in her scent.

It offered a much-needed distraction from the boy I was leaving farther behind with each beat of my brother's wings. I wished to blast my way into Victor's stronghold, and wrestle Mykal away from those bastards.

But I'd never be able to save my son, and I knew it. Even the sword was no answer for either the Fire Drake or Finn's power.

I'd not managed to shove my own wings back beneath the skin of my shoulders, so instead I folded them around Breana's body. It encased us in a cocoon of scent and warmth that my elusive inner Dragon definitely wished to pursue.

But although a part of her responded, most of her focus was on the man currently jogging through the rain behind us. He'd arrived at the dockyard, now quiet in the dead of night. Moments later, he was poling his way down the tributary to the main river.

As Tyrez's mighty wings carried us away, Breana's mind was a chaotic mix of worry and relief. My own thoughts echoed it. We were so preoccupied that it surprised me when my brother banked suddenly, and then dropped.

Below us, I could barely make out the rock ridge in the gloom. Tyrez landed smoothly despite the limited space, and we slid off him as he began to transform.

Almost immediately, the small cave formed by two leaning slabs of rock began to glow, and a moment later, Cara stepped through. Her hair blew in the wind, but it didn't look as though the rain penetrated to her skin.

"Welcome back, Bree," she said with a smile. And then, she added, "Tez isn't with you?"

"No, he isn't," Bree choked out, regarding her through narrowed eyes. "But you knew, didn't you? Knew he wouldn't come?"

Cara glanced to Tyrez. "I didn't. But Ash did." Her gaze moved to me. "You returned just in time. We need you."

I stiffened. "Why do you need me?" I asked.

"We need you," she said, "to convince the council to go to war." Before I could argue, she turned, faced the gateway, and raised her hands. "Next stop, the Talon Complex."

I hate it when she does that, I complained to Breana . Says something earth-shattering as if it's a done deal.

You are going to war with this Daize guy? Tez asked from the river now far behind us.

Yeah. And his underworld cohorts, Breana said.

Tez hesitated, and then offered, That's going to be one hell of a messy war.

We've got no choice. It seems that if we don't fight them, there isn't anyone else who can.

Tez responded as he pushed the boat through the swirling water. Excalibur didn't choose you to pick flowers.

What do you know of this sword? I demanded.

I know it was the sword that chose Arthur to be King of the Britons. He pulled it out of the stone to prove he was worthy.

He pulled it out of a stone? I paused as memories flooded me. I'd seen a movie— It's that Excalibur?

Yeah. Didn't you know? That sword is epic.

Excalibur was only one of the sword's names. The references had spoken of it being prevalent in human realm history, but I hadn't made the connection.

The reference books didn't mention the king pulling it out of a stone, Breana stated. Would think that was a critical detail.

My mind spun. Cara should have told us.

She's a busy lady, Breana mused. Has her fingers on many things… including magic swords.

The Watchers tend to tell others only what they need to know. The grinding sound was my teeth.

What does this Watcher have to do with it? Tez sounded confused.

She's the keeper of the sword, Breana said.

Cara is the Lady of the Lake? Tez's mindvoice now resonated with awe.

The Lady of the… oh, never mind. I don't want to know. My exasperation won.

Fuh…rick, man, Tez said. Arthur was only human, but from what the stories say, he was one hell of a guy. You have big shoes to fill. No way you're sitting this one out.

I ground my teeth together. But the arrogant bastard had a point…