Chapter Six

W HEN RAFE CONFIRMED that Zane and Savannah had just been in Múspellsheimr witnessing a memory of their little dragons, it didn't frighten Zane but made him furious. Eager to taste the blood of his unseen enemy all that much more.

Nothing had felt more terrifying than the sulfur-ridden wind trying to batter him relentlessly. Because it had been. Both of them. Sinister gusts meant to send a warning. Keep them in their place.

Yet somehow, some way, seeing Savannah's little copper dragon tumbling helplessly on the same wind had pulled him from his terror and fury. More than that, when their dragons slammed into a rock beside each other, a heart he didn't know he possessed made him feel something unique when she keened in pain and fear.

The sound, however strange it was to his ears because he'd never heard it before, affected him greatly and made him push past the strange mix of terror and fury he felt at the wind. It reached deep down inside him to a place he didn't know existed and incited him to protect her. Keep her safe from the darkness, ready to swallow them both whole. So, he'd covered her the best he could and took the brutal battering meant for her.

Took it until the memory faded, and he realized how impactful it had been for them here in the present. How intensely it had affected Savannah, in particular, when she began shaking. Though furious all over again at the unseen enemy that had caused this, he tempered his emotions and pulled her against him, trying to comfort her with his hands and arms as much as he had with his wings.

And that, as it happened, almost proved more difficult than facing off with pure evil. The way she felt against him, responded to him, made everything inside him come alive in a way he'd long craved. Alive in a way no other female dragon could make him feel, even if she did all the right things. Touched him in all the right places.

They would never be Savannah.

Never be this. Her . How she felt as she calmed beneath his touch and purred against him. Because she did, and it drove him to distraction when she made a dragonly purr and flicked her tongue against his neck.

In truth, it was a wonder he'd let anyone close to them after that, whether well-meaning or not. A wonder he hadn't fallen to his knees, chanted away the delicious clothes ?se had put on her, and slowly sampled every last bit of his voluptuous mate. Every last scrumptious bit of her, starting with the sweet scent emanating from the juncture between her thighs.

One he knew without question was designed for his dragon.

Yet somehow, when his darker side pushed back against letting anyone close to them once he knew he could take her, his inner beast put a stop to it and let her friends bring her water. More telling still, it let Rafe close, and Zane accepted water as well, letting him know his inner dragon truly wanted the strife between him and his kin put to rest at long last.

So he drank and let the water wash away a life he sensed had been horrific. One he knew, deep down, had also been wonderful. Untouchable. A life he would live again and again if it brought Savannah back to him.

"We should continue on, cousin," Magnus said, breaking into his thoughts as the last of the memory burned off Savannah's and Zane's skin. "We should get to where you know it's safest and let Savannah rest for a time, ja ?"

He'd been so caught up in protecting, then lusting over Savannah he hadn't realized how much what had just happened drained her until he saw how pale she'd become. How haunted her eyes seemed even though she was no longer caught in a memory out of anyone's worst nightmare. Her trembling might have stopped, but she was depleted from what that memory had taken from her mentally.

"No." Savannah shook her head and looked past what had turned back into a simple cave to the tunnel beyond. "As much as I appreciate your concern, Magnus, we should keep going. I don't want to risk Athena getting hurt if her magic wavers." She sighed and seemed to gather herself before looking at Zane. "And I definitely don't want any dragons, especially yours, unleashing hell on each other, not to mention my friends and your family, because I needed a break." She shook her head again. "Because I don't."

"Yet you do." Zoey frowned at Savannah and shook her head as well. "The last time I saw you, you'd been up for days on end, keeping an eye on me." Her gaze narrowed as her dragon clearly felt out Savannah's. "And you barely slept after that because you were so worried about all of us. Worried until you tried to flee, only to pass out from exhaustion. Then you found your way back to us because you refused to leave us in the lurch. Had to know we were safe. I was safe. Even Viking kingdoms full of strangers were safe."

"I slept," she denied, lied , and he knew it. Felt it. Heard her thoughts in a whole new way, and it alarmed all sides of him. Beast and man alike. She couldn't remember the last time she'd allowed herself to nod off for more than a few hours. But then that was her, wasn't it? In Savannah's reality, worry kept one vigilant because she knew the heartache that could result if she didn't stay alert. Keep an eye out. Pay attention. Protect. After all, she had seen firsthand what happened if you let your guard down for even a moment. How could she not, given what had happened to her parents?

"You have not slept," Zane ground out, seeing much, but not all because Savannah was good at building mental walls. Hiding things away in boxes he could see in his mind's eye. Secrets that were all hers. Or so she thought. Trials and tribulations she didn't want the world to know about, let alone her friends. She had gone on to make a better life for herself, and that was all they needed to know. Who she was now. A good friend to those who mattered most and humble about her success.

Despite knowing it would wound Savannah's pride, he gave her no choice and scooped her up before she could deny him. Then, he strode through the cave, throwing over his shoulder, "Athena and Ulrik are holding strong, so we will give Savannah time to rest." He spoke the rest within their minds. "Otherwise, she will be prone to enemy magic, and we all know it."

"He's right," Rafe concurred. "Nothing weakens both the physical and mental state of not just a human but dragon more than lack of sleep."

"Very true," Quinn agreed.

"Where will we rest, though?" Magnus wondered. "We played in these tunnels and caves in our youth, and they were never all that welcoming for slumber."

"That's because we played in areas that appealed to young dragons." Zane knew exactly where to take Savannah. "Since then, I have discovered much."

He brought them into a network of several caves that stemmed off a centrifugal one with a waterfall crashing down into it in the far corner, allowing in fresh air from above.

"We will eat then rest." He chanted flames to life in a firepit along with chairs and small tables of food and drink. Even though Savannah grumbled she could sit on her own, he took the choice out of her hands and kept her on his lap, hoping his cock behaved. "I will see you eat if I have to feed you myself because I sense you have done little of that lately, too."

"Zane's right," Zoey said softly, eyeing Savannah with concern. "You tried to get me to eat at every opportunity but didn't do much of it yourself."

"I wasn't hungry," Savannah muttered, not fighting him to get off his lap but clearly not overly pleased to be there, either. At least that's what she made everyone think with her sour expression despite him sensing she wasn't entirely opposed after all. Whatever happened to them back there, both within and after their shared memory had shifted her frustration at him ever-so-slightly. Aggravation he would get to the root of soon enough.

"You're not any hungrier than I was before I traveled back in time, but you need to eat." Zoey pushed a plate of succulent meat her way. "This will help, and trust me, we don't have meat that tastes nearly this good in the twenty-first century."

Quinn poured mead into a mug and slid it Savannah's way. "Drink this, too. You're hydrated enough now, and it'll help you rest."

When Savannah made no move to eat or drink, he growled in her ear, letting her know he'd never been more serious. "Again, if you do not accept nourishment, I will feed you myself."

When she frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, he narrowed his back, making it clear with the flicker of his dragon eyes that he would do it. His inner beast would see her dragon taken care of despite her obstinate human half. In fact, the more she hesitated, the more he felt a side she didn't want to meet just yet, ready to surface because he would force her to obey him. Would refuse her hesitation if it meant seizing her hair and putting the food in her mouth himself.

"I'd like to see you try," she growled, daring his other side to come out.

"No," Magnus warned, understanding what was happening. "Trust me, Savannah, I speak for all of us when I say you do not want to taunt him."

"Agreed," Rafe said. "If for no other reason than it will most certainly work against what you are trying to achieve."

"Or—" Zane held a piece of meat close to her mouth, making it more than clear he'd do what he threatened— "my other half will get things accomplished all that much faster by taking the decision out of your hands."

He allowed his gaze to languidly roam over her plush lips and perfect little chin, then down her slender throat when she swallowed, imagining the meat's succulent juices running down them. Imagined how good it would taste to lick it all off her. Then, he made sure she followed what he envisioned as something else altogether. Something he would demand she catch with her fingers, then lick every last drop off. Made sure she caught how much of his girth he wondered might fit down that sweet throat of hers.

"You might be pleasantly surprised if I were so inclined," she murmured. Her pupils flared, and her inner dragon sparked in her eyes before she finally managed to remove herself from his lap, but not before she rolled her hips just enough to turn his raging arousal all that much more painful.

"Good God ," Zoey muttered when he made no attempt to hide the erection straining against his leather pants. She rolled her eyes and looked at Magnus. "At least you attempted to be discreet."

Zane perked an eyebrow at his cousin. "Did you, then?" He chuckled and poured himself an ale, glad to see Savannah hadn't strayed all that far and finally imbibed in her mead. "Even when trying to lure your mate?" He inhaled, not shy about catching scents, no matter the female. "Despite her being in heat? Foolish, that." Fully aware his alternate personality was taking over, he ignored Magnus's low growl of warning for daring to inhale Zoey's scent and winked at Savannah. "Might you see and feel my arousal often before I'm deep inside you."

"Ah, there he is," Savannah said softly, not shying away from his more ruthless side. Rather, she appeared intrigued by his shift. More than that, she seemed slightly more awake now and was toying with him. So said the way she brought a piece of meat to her mouth, flicked her dainty pink tongue over it, and licked her lips, leaving just enough moisture to drive him to distraction. Then, she took a slow, purposeful bite, fully aware a trickle of juice escaped down her chin, begging to be lapped up.

"Rafe," Quinn warned, clearly catching things escalating between Zane and Savannah in a way that might appeal to whatever lurked inside her.

Zane ignored them, not caring in the least. Rather, he threw back his head and laughed before yanking Savannah right back onto his lap. Before she knew what hit her, he dug his hand into her lush hair and licked the juice with one swipe from where it trailed down her throat and chin before hovering his lips over hers.

"It's okay," Savannah said softly, putting up a hand to halt the others when they thought to come to her aid. Her gaze never left his as she swallowed her meat. "He's not going to hurt me. He's..." Her glorious dragon eyes flared to life, prompting his to do the same. "He's him ..."

"Who?" Zoey asked.

"Him," she whispered with emotion. "The little red dragon."

He'd had every intention of crushing her lips beneath his in a kiss that would make her dragon want him betwixt her thighs within seconds, but he stilled instead. Stilled because he was caught by the way Savannah gazed into his eyes and trailed her finger along one of his eyebrows and then along his jawline, seemingly mesmerized.

"What little red dragon?" ?se said, a frown obvious in her voice.

"The one from their last life," Zoey murmured, having clearly caught snippets of what they witnessed via their dragons' growing connections. "The one who—"

"Was not yours," Savannah growled, baring her teeth at Zoey and hissing like she had earlier. Her eyes were fiery red and angry with her inner beast once again. "Yet you took him from me. Took what was not yours to take."

Something about the anguish mixed with venom in her tone made everything in him come to attention. More specifically, made all sides, be they multiple personalities or beast, come to attention because he was able to push past his lust and really, truly see Savannah, however briefly.

See past their mutual desire to something far deeper.

A little copper dragon trembling beneath him in a nightmarish memory. That same dragon wailing in grief somewhere else, only older now. A lovely young copper dragon with big, sad, luminous eyes staring back at him as if he'd ripped her heart out.

"Zoey did not take me from you because I am right here, mitt hjertes flamme, " he rumbled softly, steering Savannah's chin until their eyes were aligned again. "Right here with you, yet still finding my way back to you."

"Where did you go?" Savannah blinked, recognizing that he'd switched personalities again. She blinked back tears. "Why did you leave me?" She shook her head in confusion. Her eyes momentarily flickered gold as if her inner goddess tried to struggle past all the darkness. "No, that's not right. Why didn't you stop me? I was supposed to be protecting you, but, in the end..."

"In the end, I couldn't stop you from leaving me," he murmured, certain he was right. "Could not keep you from walking through that door if I tried."

"Because I had to go," she murmured so softly he barely caught it. "Had to find..."

"Find what?" Rafe prompted respectfully when she trailed off.

Savannah stared at Zane for a long moment before shaking her head and whispering, "I don't know."

Back to herself but unsettled and sad, she crawled off his lap again, returned to her chair, and gulped down half her mead in two long swallows.

"I think it's time for a refresh of everything we know about our last life." Quinn looked from Zoey to Savannah. "Because there were obviously issues between you two, which would make sense if Zane was promised to Zoey in an arranged marriage. Promised to her despite having made a connection with you, Savannah, on dragonkind's home world, Múspellsheimr, prior to that." She looked between Savannah and Zane. "A connection that, like the rest of us, began when you were very young."

"Safe to say," Savannah said under her breath, downing the rest of her mead.

He didn't blame her for seeking its comfort, either, as he downed his ale and tried to shake the sensation of loving another so intensely because he had. Still did, and he knew it. Something his inner beast fully agreed with because the horrific sensation of having her ripped away from him in the end seemed to be surfacing more by the moment.

A sensation, truth be told, he knew all too well.

"Just like all of us had our mates ripped away from us," Zoey said, following his thoughts a little too easily, telling him everyone was connecting quickly now. "So let's start there and work our way back."

Zoey—diplomat and peace seeker that she'd apparently been in the twenty-first century—met his eyes and arched her brows before continuing. "First, when last we spoke about it at the tree in ancient Ireland on my journey back to Magnus, you claimed after I passed away, your life was fraught with sadness. Maybe we're getting a better idea of why. Second, we know you lied and did travel to the future to see Savannah without her knowing from the sounds of it, just like I sensed you did. That tells me you knew full well you and Savannah had a connection." She tilted her head in question. "How was that possible? How did our dragons not sense it when you allowed us to feel it out but days ago?"

"Because it was not my dragon that sought her out," he replied, giving him the only answer he could. The absolute truth, as it were. "But another altogether."