Chapter Five

S AVANNAH TRIED TO remain calm and level-minded while Athena worked her magic, and the air shifted ever so slightly in a way that was impossible to describe. Almost as if a gust of air burst over them yet hovered for a moment, making the fine hairs on her arms stand on end.

"Everything has slowed down above." Athena's thick mahogany-tinted black hair lifted slowly as if she were being flipped upside down. "I'll hold things as long as I can with Ulrik's help, then, after that, expect mere hours before Savannah will have to be brought up and face justice for ending Zane's dragons."

"Understood." Zane gestured that they follow him. "This way...or so I hope."

When Savannah looked at Zoey in confusion, she shrugged. Rafe, however, understood, reminding everyone the tunnels beneath the Keep and Realm could behave much like the Forest of Memories, especially for Múspellsheimr dragons, given the Realm was created by one. That meant memories could very well hamper Zane and Savannah's travels, slowing them from reaching the Ash's roots. A place that would hopefully help them reach the standing stones.

"While I understand needing to go to the stones, I can't help but wonder if Níeh?ggr's Ash is the best way to go about it." Savannah narrowed her eyes. "The door I'm not supposed to go through appeared at the Yggdrasil in Maine. Wouldn't that make all Yggdrasils, especially the most powerful, suspicious?"

"The trees are to be trusted," Rafe assured. "My guess is the door is unrelated to the tree in Maine, but tried to gain your trust by appearing close to it."

"I agree," Quinn said, taking in the wet cave walls and the eerie cool wind that blew beneath the massive beast above, otherwise known as the Keep. A massive gothic castle built for dragons and ruled by Zane, who then served Ulrik, their high king. A castle Savannah didn't need to see to feel somehow.

"Before we go any further, though." Quinn rested her hand on Savannah's shoulder and chanted. "You need to be dressed more appropriately."

"I agree." ?se took in Savannah's new outfit, complete with clothing similar to Quinn's, including trousers, a loose-fitting linen top cinched at the waist, and sturdy boots, then smirked and rolled her eyes. "But not in that."

The striking Viking woman, with her lean, fit build and dark braided hair pulled back in a high ponytail, proceeded to chant and nod with approval at Savannah's new outfit. Clothing that looked more like hers. "Now that is fit for a warrior who single-handedly took down five vicious male dragons." She scowled at Zane's back and shrugged. "More so, that is how you will tempt yet another one of them between your thighs if that's what you truly, without question, absolutely want despite the vast array of willing, admirable males or females you might prefer instead."

"Males," Savannah clarified, eyeing her new threads with approval. Where Quinn's outfit was alright, she much preferred the supple dark brown leather ?se had outfitted her in. Tight in all the right places, yet plenty of freedom to move. "Not to say females aren't great, too."

"They are," ?se agreed, clearly referring to her own female mate as she eyed Zane with disgust. "And they will know how to please you far better than a callous male who settles betwixt far too many female thighs but only stays long enough to please himself."

"Enough, ?se." Magnus frowned. "Words like that won't help us achieve our goals."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so certain about that, old friend," Zane said when he glanced over his shoulder and homed in on Savannah's new attire. His dragon eyes flared with approval, and his gaze roamed over her as languidly as it had when she was shackled to a wall. "Once again, this gives me the opportunity to prove ?se wrong." The corner of his mouth curled up slowly. "Every female in my wake was well pleased several times over, and Savannah will be no different."

Some might have denied being with so many women, but she should have known better to think Zane would be one of them. Not based on how he had felt in her mind. How he'd come across in her dreams. He wasn't the sort to make apologies for enjoying women any more than he was the sort to be controlled by a woman, never mind actually committing to one.

Which made her wonder how they could ever be fated mates.

In truth, she probably would have been attracted to his sort back home because, frankly, she'd always been able to control men effortlessly and would find one immune to it a challenge, but something about Zane being immune irked her. A part of her understood it was likely the dangerous magic attached to her beast, but another part felt something she'd never felt before and couldn't figure out what it was.

"That would be jealousy," Zoey said into her mind. "And it's only the first stage in a series of intense emotions you'll feel around your mate."

Jealousy? Really? She'd studied it enough over the years so she would recognize it in her patients, but it wasn't something she'd ever felt, at least not that she knew of. Not even when she lost her parents and watched other children enjoy theirs. Nor when she was raised in the foster care system and watched other children enjoy having their own homes. She had certainly never felt it with men because she made them jealous, not the other way around.

She hadn't even felt it on the worst day of her life.

Before the memory could surface, she stuck it in a titanium box in her mind and welded it shut. Anything to keep it far, far away from her. Yet as deeply as she repressed it, which was deep indeed, she swore Zane's gaze lingered on her a moment longer, not with desire now, but something else. A flash of recognition as if, however briefly, he might have caught something she wanted him nowhere near.

Yet a moment later, his gaze turned lustful again, so she hoped it had just been her imagination. Even so, she put the titanium box into another titanium box and welded that one shut, too, just to be safe, and followed everyone, grateful for the even sturdier leather fur-trimmed boots ?se had put on her. They were especially good for walking on the slick rocky surfaces of the various torch-lit caves they made their way through until they came to an earthen tunnel.

"It will grow narrow for a time, then there will be more caves." Zane gave Magnus a look to have his back before he grabbed a torch from a nearby wall bracket and led the way. In turn, Magnus urged her to follow Zane, then fell in behind her with a blade drawn.

"So now that we're out from underneath the Keep," Quinn said, "why don't you tell us more about your nightmare, Savannah? Because I sense you've seen the same fiery ring we all saw."

"I did," she admitted, trying not to breathe through her nose because the tighter space and her proximity to Zane once again made her far too aware of his spicy, masculine scent. She told them how alluring the door had been in her nightmare and how much she felt she needed to be on the other side. Something, or someone important, waited for her. She shook her head. "It didn't feel evil...if anything, I felt like I loved it...that I would do anything to be close to it." She shivered a little. "Yet when I crossed that threshold, I knew it was too late."

"Did anything try to keep you from going through it?" Zoey wondered. "Was Zane there? Because it was undoubtedly your last life."

"No," she said quickly, not wanting to give him that much just yet.

"You're lying," Zane said softly. He stopped, looked over his shoulder at her, and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you lying when I sense I was there? That I tried to stop you?"

While tempted to deny it, something about gazing into his eyes gave her inner beast no choice but to make her human half confess. "Because I didn't want you to stop me..." She fought the urge to go on, but again, he seemed to have some sort of hold over her. "Then I did. It's hard to explain."

"Try."

"No," she bit back, not wanting to have this conversation in a tight tunnel where she became more aware of him by the moment. More intimidated and aroused by him. Moreover, she didn't want to have it in front of everybody else because she sensed she would grow angry again. More pointedly, she sensed Zane could effortlessly turn her anger into passion. Lust she might not be able to fight off with or without an audience. "We'll talk about this later."

"No." His eyes narrowed further. "Now."

She narrowed her eyes in return and stood up straighter, not about to be bullied despite his towering height and formidable build. "No."

" Ja ." Obviously not used to being denied, his dragon eyes flared. "Tell me now or..."

He trailed off when a tiny copper-colored dragon half-flew half-tumbled over their heads, flailing like the little red dragon in the twenty-first century as if caught in an unseen wind.

"It's you ," Zane exclaimed wide-eyed before he raced after it into the darkness, as compelled and desperate to follow it as she had been his dragon.

"No, stop!" she cried, racing after him. Trying not to panic about his safety because she wasn't certain he deserved it, she flew over the treacherous ground, grateful when her dragon sight kicked in because she had left the others behind.

"Zane!" she called out. "Don't trust it!"

Fortunately, she caught up with him seconds later when he slowed and then stopped, watching something warily.

"Go no further," he murmured into her mind, surprising her with how tempting he sounded telepathically. Far, far too tempting.

"What is it?" she replied, fully aware of how he tensed even further at the sound of her internal voice. Reacted to it just as strongly as she had his.

He put a finger to his lips and shook his head, pointing to the far side of the cave they had just entered. It didn't look like the caves they'd just been in but much more sinister. The stone was burnt, and pools of boiling lava sizzled here and there.

"It's you," she exclaimed telepathically, shocked when she spied the same little red dragon holding onto a large rock for dear life. It appeared caught in the same unseen sulfur-reeking windstorm before her dragon, a tiny beast only about half his size, crashed into him. They tumbled together until they slammed into another rock that kept them from landing in a flaming puddle of fire.

They stared at each other in pure terror, battered by what seemed an unending intense wind before she keened in fear. It seemed that broke through his dragon's fear because he managed to wiggle sideways and flop over her, protecting her with his body and wings against whatever was coming. Because something was coming.

Something very, very bad.

Something they never saw because the memory faded away too soon, and the sharp stench of sulfur faded. What she'd felt during that memory, however, did not, because she couldn't stop the trembling terror continuing to pummel her. Could not stop her body from shaking, caught in some residual nightmare that seemed worse than all the rest.

Nor could she stop Zane from pulling her close, wrapping her up in his strong arms, and soothing her as readily as he'd so recently tried to protect her tiny dragon in another life. Because there could be no doubt that's what they had just witnessed.

"I don't understand," she rasped against his chest, hating how vulnerable she felt right now. "What did we just see? What was that?"

"History." The deep rumble of his voice against her ear was surprisingly gentle. Comforting in ways she didn't anticipate. "One made of pure terror by the looks of it...by the feel of it."

She held onto his tunic and squeezed her eyes shut against the continued terror of that wind and whatever had been coming for her. "Because it was," she whispered hoarsely, certain he could follow her thoughts. "It was coming for me...he... it ..."

"It was." He clasped the back of her neck under her hair, not roughly but firmly. His other arm held her more securely, grounding her yet allowing her to stand on her own two feet. It was an odd way to comfort someone, but somehow, it worked perfectly because both her human and inner beast relaxed.

Better put, they melted beneath the unyielding way he held her.

When that happened, she was slowly but surely released from the terror of what she'd witnessed and felt in another life and eased into the way she felt in this one.

More specifically, how she felt against Zane.

Not only did she become overly aware of his scent wrapping around her as intensely as his arm but of his long, thick, rock-hard arousal pressed against her. Despite trying to fight it, she couldn't help but inhale deeply and press closer. Could not help nuzzling into his scent, standing on her tiptoes and flicking her tongue against his hot, hard neck.

"What happened?" Zoey exclaimed from what seemed a great distance away. "Why did you two just—"

"What?" Savannah growled, seeing red when she looked at Zoey. Barely recognizing her own actions, she hissed at her best friend. "Took back what was mine to begin with?"

"No, that's not what she meant," Quinn said softly. She laid a gentle hand on Savannah, and her eyes glowed gold before soothing warmth rolled through her. Moreover, a mix of clarity mixed with confusion.

Why had she said that to Zoey? It felt way too possessive.

"Why did you and Zane race this way?" Quinn's voice was as gentle as her touch. "What did you see?"

"Hell," Savannah whispered as whatever had gripped her eased under Quinn's touch. Her throat grew dry like she'd been breathing in smoke for hours. "Pure, unfiltered hell."

"Without a doubt, sweetie," Zoey said, seeming to understand Savannah had just experienced something similar to the nightmares, where they woke up parched. She manifested a cup of water and held it out, trying to care for her like Savannah had cared for Zoey at the beginning of her journey back to Magnus. "Drink. Please."

"You too, cousin." Rafe held out a cup to Zane. "For you were clearly just somewhere very hot."

Zane seemed as startled as Savannah to discover smoke poured off their skin as she pulled away, all too aware of how intimate they'd become. His dragon eyes flared once more before they simmered away, seeming to take hers with him because red faded from her vision, and everything returned to cool, damp cave walls and torchlight.

Suddenly beyond thirsty, she thanked Zoey and gulped down the soothing, cold water right along with Zane, who appeared equally parched. In fact, they downed two more cups each before smoke stopped pouring off them, and their thirst was finally quenched.

"How do you feel now?" Having clearly sensed what they'd seen and, dauntingly enough, where they had been in a memory, Rafe looked from Savannah to Zane. "Do you feel attached to Múspellsheimr anymore? Because there can be no doubt that's where your memory just took place. Where your dragons were for a moment in time."

Savannah shook her head, not quite grasping what he was saying. However, Zane did and said as much, sharing something that terrified her because deep down, she knew he was right.

More than that, she had by no means escaped that terror.