9. Jade

On the hours-long flight to Oklahoma, I gnaw on my thumb as I think long and hard about how to say what I need to say.

Dominik bonding us. My pregnancy. Dominik’s betrayal.

And in what order? If I choose the wrong one, I might not get another chance to correct my mistake before all hell breaks loose.

I barely slept last night. All I did was think, and I’m still no closer to figuring it out.

Early this morning, I’d nearly tumbled head over the mountain of bags when I opened my bedroom door, determined to remind Dominik that we were still leaving for Wilkerson.

I’d had serious doubts he would agree to something he clearly had been so resistant to. Other than the mountain of shopping bags, I’d gotten my second and biggest surprise.

Dominik, in a pair of navy pants and a matching blue shirt, standing at the window, hands stuffed into his pockets, peering into the distance as the sun rose over the skyline.

From his slightly red eyes when he peered over his shoulders, he’d probably gotten as much sleep as I had.

And then his gaze had dipped to my ridiculous cream and lace silky night dress.

Because he had been paying a distracting amount of attention to my body, I hadn’t thought to argue when he told me to pick an outfit to wear on the plane. And that he had sent someone up to do our packing for us.

Apparently, owning a fancy penthouse means the concierge will arrange for someone to pack your bags for you. Who knew?

I’d showered and slipped into a pair of ankle-length, tailored cream pants, an oversized blue blouse and a pair of navy Chanel ballet pumps. The assistant must have picked them all out for me because I don’t recall trying them on at the store.

While I’d been sitting in the back of Dominik’s car, painfully aware of the arm he had slung behind me, the boutique assistant must have been going to town with Dominik’s credit card. But for my benefit.

Leaving his apartment hadn’t taken long with someone doing the packing. Under an hour after I dragged my half-tired ass out of bed, we were riding the elevator down to the lobby.

Like the night before, a sleek, black car with tinted windows had been waiting for us outside. As I climbed into the back seat, Dominik told me that the concierge had arranged for our suitcases to be packed in the trunk while I’d been dressing.

I had refused breakfast because of what I need to tell Shep, Patten, and Isaiah. And because of my dad.

There’s no way my churning belly could have handled any food.

Now, as we make our approach to the nearest private airport to Wilkerson, Oklahoma, Dominik is as calm as he was when we first climbed in.

Does he know that if my dad doesn’t kill him, then Isaiah and Patten will?

Shep might delay clawing his face off long enough to find out if he has a reasonable excuse for snatching me up and leaving them to deal with Atticus. Especially after they went into the compound to save him. But I’m not hopeful.

And when I tell them that Dominik forced a bond on me…

Maybe I should start with the news that I’m pregnant.

That technically wasn’t his fault though Dad will want to kill him for that the most.

But the bonding thing…

And the kidnapping…

I chew on my nail as my throbbing head warns a migraine is on its way.

“And you’re sure there’s no way you can undo this… thing?” I gesture vaguely toward my throat. There’s no sign of the bite, and I don’t feel any differently. Yet.

Dominik arches a dark brow. Now he’s not hiding most of his face beneath a thick beard, his arrogance is front and center. If I’d seen that arrogance in the compound, maybe I wouldn’t have been so eager to trust him. And I had trusted him.

I won’t make that mistake again.

“The bond is permanent.”

“But there must be some way to break it,” I say, frowning.

“Of course.”

I brighten.

“Death. Yours or mine.”

I deflate, turning to peer out of the window as the plane starts its descent. “It won’t be me who dies,” I mutter.

I haven’t let myself think of the possibility that Dad is dead. He hurt me in a way I’m not sure I’m even close to forgiving, but he’s my dad, and I don’t want to lose him. And because I know him, even after the six years we were apart, I know exactly what he’s liable to do when I tell him what Dominik did.

“My dad is going to kill you when he learns about all of this.”

“He will learn to accept us.”

My eyes narrow as I twist to face him. “Us?”

He smiles. “You are the mother of my child. My?—”

“Please don’t say the other thing. I’m trying to forget it,” I interrupt. “You should let me do the talking when we get there. It probably won’t be enough to save your life, but maybe it might.”

His smile widens. “You sound concerned.”

“I am concerned that my child doesn’t grow up without their father. I lost my mom and…” My eyes burn and I swallow hard. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. No one should ever know what it feels like to lose a person they love.”

Even after I closed the door in his face last night, he didn’t immediately move away. As if he suspected I would change my mind if he hung around long enough.

I did not change my mind. And I won’t. Whatever ‘us’ Dominik thinks we have is not there. And it never will be.

His smile dims. “You will not lose me. Our child will not lose me.”

“That’s not a promise you can make,” I say. “I guess if no one kills you, we can talk about it after we leave Wilkerson.”

“And what will happen in Wilkerson?”

“We deal with Atticus and make sure my dad is okay.”

His gaze sharpens. “And those friends of yours?”

“They are not my friends.”

He doesn’t blink. “Do you think they will want you when you’re carrying my child?”

The plane shakes slightly as the tires hit the tarmac, rocking us so our shoulders bump.

I don’t look away from Dominik, and I have to fight the urge to wrench open my window and shove him outside. He won’t fit. That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to do it.

“You’re not a nice person at all, are you?”

What I mean is, whatever it is I thought I saw in you, I was an idiot to see it, because as blows go, this one strikes true, and it strikes hard.

He lifts his fingers to my chin. I pull away before he can touch me. That’s something I will never let him do to me again. What happened between us in the cell more times than I should have let it was a mistake. It’s time to correct those mistakes by never letting it happen again.

As the plane rolls to a stop, Dominik lowers his hand. “A firedrake does not share his woman. He is possessive.”

A rumbling purr outside my window captures my attention. I focus on the black car with tinted windows waiting outside. For us probably, since it looks identical to the one that took us to the airport in New York.

The engine falls silent as the driver in a black suit climbs out of the car to stand beside it, resting his arms by his side. I turn away, needing Dominik to understand something before we get out. Something important.

“We are not friends, and I am not your woman. You tied us together. It isn’t what I wanted then, and it’s not what I want now.”

“And our child?” His expression is blank.

If I’m not careful, a man like Dominik will take over my life. That isn’t happening. Not after I wasted six years in an attic. I refuse to waste any more of it tied with someone who doesn’t make me happy. I will break this bond. Somehow.

“We are having a child together but that doesn’t mean I have to like you. In time, we can learn to be friends for the sake of our child to make co-parenting easier.”

“Co-parenting?”

I nod, pretending I don’t hear the bite of anger in his voice. “I’ve grown up without my mom and I wouldn’t wish my child to go through that, so we can co-parent. Even if we don’t become friends, I can learn to be civil for the sake of our child unless you lock me in your hoard again. Then I won’t even try to stop my dad or Shep, Isaiah, and Patten from trying to kill you. And they will. Or maybe I’ll be the one doing the killing.”

If I ever get a handle on this famous House of Kaida power I’m supposed to have.

“You’ll want more,” Dominik says so confidently I have to look away before I give into the urge to force him out of the window.

I focus on the mountains in the distance. It looks perfectly normal, though we’re too far away to see anything.

There should be a lot to see. Namely cops and fire engines putting out Dad’s fire in the mountains of Wilkerson.

“I wonder what everyone is saying about Dad. Maybe we’re too far away for anyone to have seen him in the sky,” I mutter.

“There was an explosion in the mountain caused by some unexpected lava activity,” Dominik says. “Any smoke drifting from Wilkerson is being attributed to that.”

I whip my head toward him. “What?”

He’s currently reading from his cell phone.

I watch him for several seconds. “How do you even know how to use that?”

Technology has to have changed substantially. Would he even know what an app is? Did they have apps twenty years ago?

Focus, Jade. Focus on the here and now.

“It is a cell phone,” Dominik says slowly. Like I’m an idiot.

“I know that,” I bite out, “but you spent the last twenty years growling like you were feral.”

A door whooshes open before he can respond, and the pilot’s trim figure fills the open doorway. “Mr. Alarik, are you and your wife ready to dismount?”

It takes concerted effort not to grind my molars together. “I am not your wife.”

“It’s been an exhausting flight.” Dominik smiles at the pilot. “She is tired.”

The pilot nods. “Then I’ll see about getting your bags to your driver.”

“Excellent.”

Dominik tucks the cell phone into his pocket and unbuckles his seatbelt before he rises, holding his palm out toward me.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and stand, refusing his offer to help me up. “Do you think Atticus paid off the cops to hide what he gets up to in the mountains?”

Lips flat, Dominik leads the way out of the plane. “Perhaps. He likely knows enough influential people to cover this up.”

“But people would have seen a dragon in the sky. If someone took a picture…”

Dominik shrugs halfway down the stairs. The heat of the sun is unbearable and I regret wearing long sleeves. It had felt like a good idea when I shivered as we emerged into a brisk New York morning. But in Oklahoma? A dribble of sweat glides down my back, and I shiver at the unpleasant sensation.

“Easy enough to say it was bogus. Or what is that term I’ve been reading in the news lately?” Dominik reaches the bottom of the staircase and turns to me. “Fake news.”

I frown. “But people in this town will know it’s not fake news. They would have seen my dad.”

Dominik shrugs. “I suppose someone like Atticus can convince you to forget what you saw. And he has guards to enforce his wants.”

My eyes return to the mountain in the distance. “Maybe.”

The drive from the airport to Wilkerson takes an hour, and the roads are quiet. As we passed down the portion of the road where someone rammed Dad’s car off it to abduct me, it was hard not to shiver.

I felt Dominik glance at me, probably in response to all the sudden tension I was kicking off, but he didn’t ask what was wrong.

The good thing about Wilkerson being so small is that finding the quiet side road I walked down with Isaiah doesn’t take too many wrong turns. It’s where he told me about the French harlot he fell in love with, and who he killed, though he wouldn’t tell me why.

I still think the why is just as important as the doing, and I’d like to find out Isaiah’s why.

When I spot Isaiah’s white Audi parked outside, relief filters through me. They’re here. They must be alive to have left the compound and come back here.

The driver is asking about the bags when I push the car door open and jog up the townhouse’s steps, too eager to get inside.

I hesitate on the top step, unsure of myself.

Shep, Patten, and Isaiah followed me to Wilkerson to rescue me. But that was before. Now I’m pregnant, and permanently bonded to another man.

Would they still want me? Or will they walk away the second I tell them?

Dominik has stopped a step behind me as he orders the driver to unload the bags from the trunk.

His soft breaths stir the hair on the back of my neck. I tell myself not to be so affected by him standing so close. I hate it, but that doesn’t mean I have to do anything about it.

Taking in a deep breath for courage, I hold it for a second and mentally pray Dad is still alive then release it and knock firmly on the front door.

Inside, someone curses.

Patten.

He’s still cursing and grumbling as he swings the front door open, half-asleep with his clothes creased as his mouth falls open. “Jade?”

“Hi.” I smile nervously.