Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Ember

M y head throbs with a painful pulse that makes me feel very certain I’m going to vomit. Using my forearms, I shove up and glance around but do a double take when I spot the massive lion. He slowly pulls his tongue into his mouth, looking strangely sheepish. Bringing a hand to my hair, I grimace when I feel the dampness.

There’s barely any time to contemplate that as bile rises in my throat.

“Bathroom?” I choke out.

The lion’s head tilts, and he raises a paw.

His amber eyes are awe-inspiring, but my stomach rolls, making this an emergency.

Tumbling off the bed, I hit my feet and dart past the open door.

My ass bumps against it until it clicks closed as I flip on the lights.

Luckily, the bathroom is clean.

Cupping a handful of water from the sink, I rinse and spit before grabbing the bottle of mouthwash and repeating the process all over again. That tea was awful, but my side is no longer an open wound. If it was, vomiting would have been a whole different world of hell.

The low growling that comes from the bedroom has me flipping off the water and tugging the door open.

My eyes widen as I hiss, “Oh, shit.”

The lion, who has to be Anders, stands on the bed, staring at the open doorway.

My eyes follow his line of sight, and…

Oh yeah, Veryn looks super pissed .

Glancing down at the T-shirt and basketball shorts I’m wearing that aren’t mine…

Well, this probably isn’t going to help anything.

My wolf is no help. She thinks it would be interesting to watch the two beasts fight it out to see who’s stronger.

Dominance fights are hot…

No.

Dammit.

That’s not happening .

She’s a bad influence.

“I don’t even know what this looks like,” I say, jabbing a finger at my dragon. “But it’s not that, and you’re massive when you shift. Don’t do that inside.”

Veryn laughs, swiping his black hair back from his face.

My brow wrinkles as my head tilts.

“Holy fuck, woman. You had me worried half to death.” He stomps over, and his fangs and claws disappear as he gets closer. He lifts me, shoving my back against the nearby wall as he bends to kiss the hell out of me.

My feet dig into his jeans as the lion shakes out his fur and jumps down from the bed.

There’s no way for me to see exactly what he does after that, but I can hear it clearly as his claws clap against the wooden flooring. It sounds like he walks out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and possibly takes a set of stairs.

“I just puked.”

“I legitimately could not care less.” Veryn nips at my lower lip, swirling his tongue around the stinging ache. “For the record,” he growls, bumping his cheek against mine. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again. So, you just better get used to having a dragon-sized stalker stuck up your ass from here on out.” He chuckles. “That sounded dirtier than I meant it to, but we can go with that too.” His teeth rake over my lower lip again as he growls. He moves closer to my ear and tugs on it. He seems riled, but like he’s doing his best to cover it up. “You’re so fucking lucky I didn’t burn this place to the ground searching for you.”

A shiver runs down my spine.

He does sound very serious.

Dragons can be unpredictable.

“I’m safe,” I say, swallowing around the lump in my throat. “But I have something to tell you, and it’s kinda big.”

“Congratulations, Alpha. I hear you claimed your birthright,” he says, pulling back to study my face.

Oh, shit .

Word travels fast .

Way too freaking fast .

“Yeah, but what do I do now, Veryn? I don’t want to lead a pack.”

His forehead comes to rest against mine. “Then, you don’t have to, but you should be proud of yourself for taking out Aimes. It sounds like he was on a path to becoming Carson 2.0.” He references my bio dad.

“I didn’t even make the choice to kill him,” I admit. “My wolf took over and forced me out completely.”

“She was protecting you from having to make that call,” Veryn says in a tender tone.

“He was awful. I’m not sorry he’s dead. If I had known how terrible he was, I would have supported her decision.”

“In a kill-or-be-killed situation, it’s not the same as murdering someone in cold blood,” he says firmly. “I’ve heard a little, and it sounds like he was a tyrant. Even the fact you’re female might not have saved you.”

I nod. “I need to call Rogue and my family, but I don’t want to. The second they hear the news, my dads and brothers will try to storm pack lands,” I say as my stomach rolls. “I made a big freaking mess.”

“It’s okay,” he murmurs. “We’ll figure it out together. We’ve just gotta handle one thing real quick.” His hand slides into my hair at the base of my skull and with how huge his palm is, he’s able to use his fingers to tilt my chin to the side. “You’re mine. We both know it, but I can’t do shit for you without a claiming bite. Fucking bullshit shifter culture.” He kisses my cheek as my heart slams against my ribs. “I mean, not that I wasn’t looking for a reason, anyway, but yeah…” He bumps my head to the side, licking down my neck, and my hands dig into his shoulders.

My wolf vibrates with excitement, but it takes me until his teeth puncture my skin to realize what’s happening.

Damn wolfsbane.

I should have seen that coming, especially after sensing how on edge Veryn’s dragon seemed when I first came out of the bathroom. A ridiculous moan slips from my lips as his tongue flicks over my skin. He really shoved his teeth in there deep.

Bonds can be rejected. I’ve been told my entire life that they’re consensual, so I guess if there was a point in time when I could deny it… I missed it. Not that I would have. It’s a onetime-only deal, from what I understand.

Veryn’s citrusy scent floods my mind, and his contentment follows only a second later. Right after that is pure, smug-as-fuck alpha pride.

He growls, slamming me against the wall with force. His teeth finally retract, and he licks over the bite to clean and seal it.

I move my feet to dangle in the air and wiggle until he places me on them. His face contorts in confusion that also echoes in the partially formed bond, but he barely gave me any warning, so I don’t think I owe him any in return.

My hands land on his chest, giving him a solid push, followed quickly by another.

“What’s wrong?” he growls as his head tilts, and his eyes glow yellowy-green with the dominance of his dragon.

I don’t answer, shoving again. His knees hit the edge of the bed, and I give him another push with all my might. He bounces on the mattress, making the bed frame creak.

My eyes light amber with my wolf. She’s still high on her victory and quite full of herself.

I pounce, landing on Veryn’s lap with my knees on either side of his. His massive hands immediately land on my hips and ass as his eyes darken.

I stretch out over him, using a palm to keep myself up. It might be my wolf guiding my actions as I fist a handful of the hair on top of his head. It could also be me who rips his head to the side.

“Ahh, I see,” Veryn murmurs. “Should I have offered you the first bite, baby?”

There’s no time to respond as my teeth transform into my wolf’s. She pushes for more, and I feel her ears pop out as her tail slithers over the top of the basketball shorts I’m wearing. It flicks around wildly as I strike his throat.

It’s a necessary part of the circuit, due to me also being a shifter. His blood coats my mouth, and I swallow it without gagging. My wolf must be to thank for that because I’m not a vampire. Her scratchy tongue is almost too big for my mouth, and she laps at Veryn’s skin.

He tugs me down with significant force, and my core grinds over his thickening shaft.

Focusing, I retract my teeth and lick over the bite. Before I even know what’s happening, a plethora of memories flash through my mind. There’s me as a kid, playing in the park. Then Veryn as he hands me my ball back, grinning and bumping his shoulder against mine. He’s always smiled at me like I was the only thing in the world he could see.

I blink and another memory replays. This time, it’s Veryn staring down at me as he flies us around his mom’s courtyard. I couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. I remember how enchanting it was to stare up at him, but seeing myself from his perspective is an entirely different experience.

The image changes again. It’s me darting down the street in Haven late at night as Veryn follows, keeping to the shadows to make sure I don’t spot him.

They go on and on, flickering through various ages and time periods. They’re all of me but through Veryn’s eyes. My chest gets tight as his emotions flood the bond.

“Whoa,” I whisper, leaning into him for support. “I just got a crazy memory dump. What’s that about?”

“Shifters share the deepest bond of all. Unless you purposely shield your thoughts and memories, I’ll be able to view them, and vice versa.” He runs his hand over my tail, sending a shiver through my entire body.

Damn.

That’s so weird.

He stares at me with his big blue eyes, and my heart beats erratically.

“Remember when I told you I waited for you, and you said something along the lines of oh, go fuck yourself ?” He quirks a bushy, black eyebrow. “Because I do. Only, I wasn’t fucking around.” He moves to cradle the back of my head. “No one has ever interested me except you. Feel free to poke around my memories if you’d like to verify.” He uses his hands on my lower back and head to gently roll us until I’m the one staring up at him. “You’re all fucking mine.”

I lean up to meet him, and our tongues clash.

Holy fucking shit.

I’m mated.

Veryn doesn’t let things go past kissing, which is good, because this isn’t either of our houses. He helps me up, and we sit side by side on Anders’s bed. My wolf is stubborn, but I eventually manage to force her to put the ears and tail away.

The line of questioning starts, and I can’t blame him for wanting to know what happened, but my head is still foggy from the wolfsbane or possibly the healing tonic. My side still isn’t fully healed. It’s just to the level where I no longer want to scream out in pain when I move.

“So, you went to the club to meet Rogue and Gemma, only they were called away on another case?” Veryn asks, running his tattooed fingers over my cheek. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have backed you up.”

“You have your own job?—”

“Ember,” he says in an indulgent tone. “I work at The Den because it’s the best chance I have to run into you.”

My eyes widen, and I shove my hair behind my ear when it falls over my face. My wolf smugly reminds me that she said that three years ago.

I roll my shoulders back and explain the case. There are rules, and I break every single one of them as I tell him all about The Market Heist Crew, The Doctor, and I even circle back to Ethan Sanders.

“He’s who Rogue saw in the vision?” Veryn asks.

“Right.” I focus on what Lorcan said in the bar. “There’s something else. Someone else—a druid.” My eyes pop open, and I don’t even know when I closed them, but I squeak. “Holy shit, I was able to tell you about him.”

“Yeah, now keep going,” Veryn growls.

Everything spills out, from our first interaction to how I asked Wraith about different species Lorcan might be. My anxiety heightens the closer I get to recalling our conversation tonight.

Veryn and I just bonded.

The last thing I want to do is hurt him.

It would likely be more detrimental to keep secrets.

I repeat every detail I can remember. “…the first time, his compulsion included banning me from talking about him to anyone, but tonight, he changed the rules. He said I could remember our exchanges and speak of them, but only to anyone I trust implicitly.”

Veryn’s head tilts, and he brings a hand up, thumbing my lower lip. “I trust you too. Show me where he placed the mark?”

Nodding, I bring my wrist up between us. “It’s all hazy. I’m not sure if it was drawn in my blood or his. I did feel a prick, but…” I shrug. “I think it was mostly his blood with a drop of mine mixed in.”

Veryn wraps his hand around mine, bringing my wrist to his nose. His eyes glow as his nostrils flare. “That’s a smell I’ve never scented before. It’s earthy and has the tang of magic, but I don’t pick up any of the hints of decay that come with dark magic.”

“Where have you scented dark magic?” I ask, blinking like a total goofball.

“During the years after I turned eighteen.” My dragon shrugs. “Bane knew I had a lot of anger to work off. He brought me along with him on more than a few jobs.”

It feels a little like my entire world tilts. Honestly, I thought he was leaving Haven for days or weeks at a time to troll human towns for women to hook up with. He told me he was a virgin the first time we had sex, and a big piece of me wanted to believe him, but that sliver of doubt makes me feel rotten.

Veryn lays my arm down on my thigh and wraps his hand around the side of my throat, pulling me closer to him. The way his fingers tease through my hair at the base of my skull is soothing.

“I don’t want to ruin the moment or anything, but there’s something I need to tell you before you accidentally run across it in my memories.”

My eyes move to meet his. “What?”

“I came with the quads the night they dealt with Carson.” Veryn’s jaw clenches. “More like, I was an active participant in making sure he couldn’t fuck with your life in the future.”

“Okay.” I slow blink a whole lot of times as my mind processes what he just said. I’m not upset. I wasn’t angry with my brothers when they told me Carson was dead. “I’m a little surprised no one thought to tell me you were involved, but I’m not angry.”

My wolf gets weirdly giddy about that new piece of information. To her, it’s an excellent example of how honorable of a mate Veryn will be.

“I was always going to tell you,” he says sincerely. “I just wanted us to be in a good place when I did.”

I can understand that, and if we’re doing confessions, it might be time to spout off one of my own.

I blurt out, “The druid said I have more than one mate. During our conversation, he insinuated that it was common for all omegas, but I don’t know if I even inherited those pieces of my mom’s genetics.”

“Pretty much everyone but you has always suspected that you did.” Veryn leans close, nuzzling his cheek to mine. “But remember what I said earlier? Whatever comes next, we’ll figure it out together. We both grew up in packs. I love the shit out of you. I’ll adapt.”

My hand moves to his neck, digging in as I capture his mouth in a slow and sensual kiss. A warmth fills my chest, and it takes my breath away. It’s too intense to describe, but I eventually determine it’s Veryn sending his emotions toward me in the bond.

That is most definitely going to take some getting used to—but in the best way.