Chapter 16 - Olivia

I stare at my reflection in the mirror, running my fingertip over the hickey on my shoulder as images of another passionate encounter with Stryder come to mind.

Sighing contentedly, my lips lift into a pleasant smile. I’d always been prone to bruises and scars, my inherently pale skin making me susceptible to the most obvious markings.

My scars and bruises often came from training or knocking into the corner of a desk. I’d just never been marked by the teeth or strong fingertips of a man before. Not just any man, but a powerful dragon shifter who ignites a fire inside me that hadn’t been sparked before.

I’ve long since forgotten about my world – the so-called “mortal world”, as Stryder calls it. Here, on Aurora Island, the dragons remain eternal, immortal and unharmed by the things that are fatal to humankind.

As I gaze at the bruises marring my skin, I wonder if I would be able to see these blemishes of passion if I was immortal. A few weeks ago, I would have never given it a thought. Now that I know something such as immortality exists, it has me wondering if all the troubles of the mortal world even matter anymore. The case I’d been working on is a faraway thought now, and I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else in the world.

Not only have I been able to pick up my brushes again, I’m a canvas myself, on which the dragon shifter paints his territorial strokes of raw passion. Even the blush that creeps up my cheeks is a work of art that’s credited to him.

“Are you alright?” comes Stryder’s voice from the bathroom door as he sticks his head inside.

I catch his worried stare in the mirror, and smile as reassurance.”I’m fine,” I giggle, watching as he enters the bathroom, still wearing worry on his brows.

He comes up behind me, tentatively lifting a hand to the bruise on my shoulder. He barely touches it, his fingers merely ghosting over the evidence of his firm grip from just now when he held me tightly and pounded into me.

“I’m sorry…” he whispers, touching the bruise with his lips instead. “I’m supposed to keep you safe…”

The apology flashing in his saddened eyes touches my heart. I turn to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and needing to stretch on my tiptoes to kiss his lips reassuringly.

“Let’s just call it even,” I muse with a light giggle.

“Even?” he asks, hands settling on my sides.

I grin. “I’m painting you, and you’re painting me.”

“Still…” He pauses to brush the damp waves of my hair over my shoulder, exposing a set of teeth marks. “... I should learn how to be more gentle.”

“Don’t,” I refute with a curt shake of my head. “I like being your personal canvas.”

“You do?” he smirks, brushing his lips across my shoulder and traveling toward my neck. The faint stroke of his plump lips sends awareness to every nerve ending in my body, reigniting the desperate need for him. It was only a few minutes ago that we clambered toward a unified peak, and yet, I am insatiable when it comes to him.

So is he as he grows against my belly.

“Uh-huh…” I concede with a hum, closing my eyes and tilting my head to permit him full liberty of my neck. My hands explore his firm chest, enjoying the way his pectoral muscles flex beneath my touch.

“It’s a pity we’re not painting today…” he drawls at my ear, tracing the shell of my lobe with the tip of his nose. “... I would have loved to borrow one of your brushes…”

“Hm…” I hum, my heart racing in my chest. “... Are you any good with a brush?”

When Stryder groans frustratedly, I open my eyes to see him lost in the vortex of a mind link again. When his eyes return to normal, he flips me a feeble smile.

“They’re almost here,” he informs me despondently. Because of his family’s return to the island, we had to cancel our plans to paint on the mountaintop today. That didn’t stop him from devouring me after breakfast, and he would have ravished me in the bathroom if we weren’t interrupted.

Still, I understand that he has obligations he must see to. He kisses me chastely on the lips, then climbs into the shower stall.

I turn back to the mirror to dry my hair, pursing my lips in contemplation. We haven’t discussed what this means for either of us. We’ve grown close in the past two weeks, the passion between us unmatched. But naturally, I’ve been wondering what happens next for us. Is there a future, or will it all come to an end?

“Stryder…?” I call out, keeping my eyes on my reflection.

“Yes?”

“How does a human become immortal?”

He shuts the shower off and tilts his head through the door. “Why do you ask?”

“I’ve just been wondering, that’s all,” I shrug. “You told me about the immortal humans but didn’t tell me how they came to be immortal. Did your brothers have to bite them?”

Stryder chuckles as he exits the shower. “We’re not vampires, Olivia,” he muses while pulling a towel off the stand. “A human becomes immortal when she gives birth to a dragonspirit child.”

“Oh…” I nod. “Good thing I’m on birth control, then,” I giggle nervously.

From behind me, Stryder stares at me warily for a long moment. It’s not something we spoke about, but I’d been on birth control to regulate my hormones since I was twenty-one. I can’t determine if his pause is because of relief or realization.

“We’ll speak about this when I come back,” he finally says. Suddenly, there’s an awkward tension in the air while he dresses in silence and leaves the bedroom we’ve been sharing all week.

I find myself floating toward the balcony, in deep thought, as I wrap my arms across my chest, hugging myself the way I wished to be hugged by Stryder’s arms. What was I expecting, anyway? I’m not even sure. I don’t even know where I stand with Stryder, yet, I find myself falling into a tunnel of the unknown.

What is this feeling, that brings tears to my eyes as I watch a group of dragon shifters flying into the island? They all seem so united, two immortal women being carried in the arms of their dragon shifter lovers. A family, of which I do not belong.

I suddenly feel like an outcast, an outsider in the world of the immortals. I’m just here for my own safety, while having fun with the dragon shifter who’s meant to protect me.

There’s nothing more between us.

Even if I wish there was.

***

Wallowing in my conflicted thoughts, I sniff when there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!” I call out, swallowing down the lump forming in my throat. After watching the dragon shifters with their immortal human lovers enter the island, I’d felt so highly out of place, that I’d sat perched on the bed for the rest of the afternoon.

Stryder’s need to first greet his family meant he wouldn’t be back until much later. I frown while watching the door as it opens up, surprised when an unfamiliar face pops in.

Though the woman is unfamiliar, she resembles the twins with her sparkling green eyes and strawberry-blonde curls framing her face and swaying just above her shoulders. I gasped in awe of her ethereal beauty, recognizing her from what Stryder described.

His only sister, Kairo Vulkan.

“Hello, Olivia,” she greets cheerfully with a broad, pretty smile that touches her eyes. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” I say, climbing off the bed and smiling through my confusion. I hadn’t been expecting anyone over. “You’re Kairo, right?”

“Yes,” she beams, closing the door gently behind her. “My brother doesn’t know that I’m here. I overheard him telling Draco that you’re on the island. I just had to meet you before you’re stolen by everyone else’s charms.”

My smile widens as she saunters forward and lifts my hands into her own. “Wow! You’re more beautiful than I imagined! Like a life-sized doll.”

I blush profusely when she compliments me, thinking about how Stryder calls me “baby doll.”

“Consider me charmed already,” I giggle. “I think the others have some tough competition.”

“Oh, my gods!” she exclaims excitedly. “I like you already!” Kairo takes my hand and leads me toward the couch. “You have to tell me all about how you met my brother!”

We get comfortable on the couch, and Kairo turns to me with excitement flashing in her eyes. There’s something about her that feels so comfortable to be around. Stryder was right when he described her as the resident mediator for all of their personal problems. I can see it now – just being in her company feels easy.

“Go on,” she encourages. “I wanna hear all about how you fell in love with him.”

My heart skips a beat, and a frown grows on my face. Fell in love with him? What did he tell his family? I haven’t told him that I have. After all, I’m not even sure if that’s what I’ve decided.

“I– I–” I hesitate, gulping words that can barely form on my tongue. Is that how he feels about me? All I can do is giggle nervously. “I haven’t really given that much thought,” I admit. “I mean… I guess I do have feelings for him.”

“Of course,” Kairo smiles. “That’s why you’re here, on Aurora Island. I’m so glad the Council changed their methods. I hated the way they did things with Lily and Yaz.”

My frown deepens as an alarming panic makes my heart skip a beat. “Wait… What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, Olivia?” Kairo stares at me in surprise. “Did Stryder not tell you?”

“Tell me what?” I ask sternly, my earlier cheerfulness was gone, replaced with dread.

“Oh, no…” Kairo shakes her head and turns away, dropping her face in her hands. “Not you, too,” her voice is muffled against her hands.

I grab her wrist, forcefully removing her hands from her face. “What the hell is going on?”

She turns to me with remorse, widening her eyes. “Did you agree to come to the island?”

I shake my head.

Kairo sighs again. “He kidnapped you?”

I shake my head again, explaining how Stryder brought me to the island and why, all while she shakes her head in disbelief.

“That’s not how he was meant to meet you, Olivia,” she groans. “These fucking Vulkan men…” she grates through gritted teeth, her eyes turning angry.

“Wait…” My heart pounds in my chest. “... Are you saying he was supposed to meet me? It wasn’t just a chance encounter?”

“No, Olivia. I am so sorry,” she apologizes as she takes my hands. “Perhaps it was a chance encounter when he saved you from the fake kidnapping. The day you were brought here, my brothers were out celebrating Felix’s bachelor party in Vegas. Stryder only learned about his human mate a day after Felix’s wedding.”

“H-human mate?” I mumble, picking up on that one term that rings in my eardrums. “The immortal humans… They’re just the dragon shifters’ mates?”.

“Initially, yes. That’s what the Council thought when they introduced the human mating process to the males. It was supposed to be strictly about saving us, the dragon shifter race, from extinction by producing dragonspirit children, but–”

“Dragonspirit children?” I exclaim in shock. “You’re telling me that the purpose of the humans on the island is to bear children for the dragons?!” I fume, getting to my feet, my spine turning steeled as I’m overcome by anger. I glare at Kairo, who gulps in fear as she timidly follows me to her feet.

“Olivia, it’s not–”

“No, Kairo!” I yell. “He didn’t tell me the truth! He lied to me, manipulated me into falling–”

I can’t get the rest of the words out; the realization is too terrifying to wrap my head around. That’s why he kept me here, locked and bolted to his bed, just to become a baby-making machine for him.

It was all a lie. His fluid charms were a weapon, a means to an end. He forced me to grow feelings for him, based on a lie.

My head pounds along with my racing heart.

“Take me to him,” I demand. “Right now.”

“I don’t know where–”

“Don’t lie to me too!” I bellow furiously. “I know you can do that trick with your mind and ask him where the fuck he is.”

Kairo nods tersely, her eyes changing color and glowing as she sends him a mind link. When her eyes take on their normal shade of green, she nods. “I know where he is.”

She proceeds to the door, and I follow her without bothering to put anything on my feet. I march barefoot down the hallway behind her, following her into the elevator, where she tries to apologize.

“Save it,” I say sternly, lifting a dismissive hand. “I don’t want to hear any more lies from you dragons.”

Kairo purses her lips and turns her face away bashfully. The last bit of my empathy fizzles away. She had no bad intentions toward me, but her brother did. So I save my anger, the rage building up inside me as she leads me to a door on the second floor.

“Don’t come in,” I warn her, hanging onto the last thread of sanity I have left. “This isn’t gonna be as pretty as you think I am.”

“I’m deeply sorry, Olivia.”

“Don’t be,” I glance over my shoulder, one hand on the door handle. “You’ve done me a favor by telling me the truth.” I turn back to the door, glaring at it angrily. “You’ve done more for me than he has.”

I take a deep breath, straightening my shoulders and my resolve to face the deceitful dragon shifter. The door flies open, and I find Stryder amongst a group of five males at the bar. He turns to me with a smile that wrenches my gut.

“Olivia, we were just–”

I storm forward, ignoring the way his face falls when he catches the look of pure disgust on my face. Wielding all the strength and training I’d done over the years into my hand, I slap him across the cheek.

This time, I’m the one who paints his flesh with a shade of bright red in the shape of my hand. His hand flies up to his cheek, his eyes widening with horror.

“Oli–”

“You fucking lying piece of shit!” I roar while the room erupts all around me, a chair falling to the ground when the others hurry off their seats. I couldn’t care less about the audience right now. His public humiliation is what he deserves.

“Olivia…” he breathes, attempting to reach for my hand, but I quickly step back, repulsed by him.

“Don’t. Touch. Me,” I warn, huffing through my nose. “You manipulated me into falling for you! You seduced me to get what you wanted out of me!” I spit bitterly. “How dare you?!”

“I can explain–”

“No!” I exclaim, hating myself for feeling so much anger that tears begin to cloud my vision. I’ve never felt so used in my life, that my emotions are getting the best of me. My anger is so uncontrollable that seeing his face is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. “I don’t care about what you have to say! You had enough time to tell me that the only reason I’m here is to be your personal baby-making machine!”

“That’s not–”

“Stop!” I yell at the top of my lungs, shutting my eyes when the sight of him becomes too unbearable. I cup my hands over my ears and shake my head. “I hate you, Stryder! I fucking hate you!”

My chest feels so heavy, I think I’m about to have a heart attack. I hear him sighing, and all I say is, “You’re gonna take me back home right now.”

“Okay,” he says softly, and I hear shuffling of feet as the room empties. When I open my eyes again, the tears pour out.

A pair of soft hands settle on my shoulders, but I know they're not Stryder’s. I can tell from how much smaller they are, and I hate that I know exactly how his touch feels. Still, the warmth from Kairo’s hands is welcoming, her gentle voice soothing as I turn and feel her embrace me.

“You are sure about leaving?” she asks in a whisper.

I nod, stepping back and staying strong, fighting the urge to sob.

“Then let me help you gather your things,” she offers, to which I nod again. I’m just grateful that it isn’t Stryder who stayed behind to offer me comfort.

Now, I must prepare to be carried in his arms one last time.