Chapter 7 - Stryder

It’s impossible. I feel nothing for the woman besides the desperate need to keep her safe. Perhaps that’s all the fated mates clause is about. Our inner dragons are unable to see them come to harm, wanting to protect them for the sake of mating and producing offspring for the clan.

Perhaps my brothers were wrong, I think, as I stand outside the ensuite bathroom door, glancing over my shoulder and frowning in deep contemplation. The woman in the shower is nothing like I thought my mate would be.

Apart from the obvious contrast to my usual preference in looks, this one is feistier than I would have liked. I hadn’t thought much about what my human mate would be like, but an easy-going personality would have been nice. Easier, even, so I wouldn’t have to deal with her resistance and insistence to go back to the mortal world.

I guess that the Dragon Council hadn’t been anticipating resistance either. They expected me to just waltz into her life and make her fall in love with me, then willingly join the Aurora Dragons on Aurora Island as my mate.

None of them knew that, at first, I couldn’t care if she loved me or not. It’s impossible to force love to grow in a place where a seed isn’t planted. It’s not like I’ll ever be able to give her the love she desire if she has to open her heart to me. That’s why I’m convinced that my older brothers mistook this deep urge to protect their mates as love. They have it all wrong. I cannot let the woman go, simply because I can’t allow harm to come to her. It’s not love. It’s just the need to protect her, that’s all.

“Erm–can I get some clothes?” Olivia’s faint voice hesitates behind me, jolting me from my thoughts and prompting me to spin around.

I have to look down, her tinier frame trembling slightly in nothing but a towel wrapped around her. A fleeting frown passes through my face, seeing her for the first time as nothing more than a vulnerable human who begs for my protection.

I’m lost in a trance momentarily, my eyes slipping down as my gaze follows a droplet of fresh water that falls from her hair and lands on her exposed collarbone. It flows into the dip, disappearing into her pale flesh, filling me with the sudden urge to reach out and feel the softness of her moist flesh.

It’s a feeling so intense, it moves my feet of its own accord, closing the distance between us until my eyes meet hers, and I stop in my tracks. The accusing depths of the ocean are what snaps me from my daze.

“C-clothes…?” I clear my throat, then nod toward the bed. “Get dressed and eat,” I tell her, turning around to give her the privacy she demands. I don’t feel like fighting her right now.

I’m fighting something inside myself that begs me to look beyond her outward appearance and the need to protect her.

Olivia quietly pads to the bed. The only sound in the bedroom is the whispers of clothing as it slips over her limbs. The dragon’s sharp senses detect every minute sound, painting a picture of her inside my mind. Imagining what her body looks like without the towel, how the sleeves pass her arms or the pants slide up her thighs…

Gulping to stop myself from being utterly ridiculous, I have to remember how absurd I believe the whole fated mate notion is. Just because my brothers found their eternal loves in their human mates, doesn’t mean that it will be the same for me.

I’m not willing to sacrifice my freedom. With that firm mental declaration, I turned around to see Olivia sitting cross-legged on the bed, dressed in the cotton pajamas I’d picked out of the laundry, eating the food I’d brought up for her.

Are you ready to leave, Stryder? Stryker asks through a mind link, forcing me to pause and send him an urgent reply.

I’ll be down in a minute.

We can leave from your floor.

Don’t come up! I warn, a little too violently, my angry grunt startling Olivia mid-bite of her toast. Her eyes widen with horror, and she must notice the way my eyes have changed color because of my focus on the telepathic conversation...

Geez… Okay, Brother, Stryder replies apologetically. I’ll wait for you in the courtyard.

Blowing out steam through my nostrils, I march forward and grip the bar of the bedpost over my head. “You’ll have to hurry up,” I instruct her. “I need to leave.”

“I’m not stopping you,” she shrugs, going back to her meal.

“And I’m not leaving you like this,” I scoff, reaching forward and snatching the plate from her. She gasps from her shock when I remove a thick chain from behind the pillows and instantly wind it around her wrists.

Using brute force seems to work to keep her quiet, so I make good use of it as I bind her wrists and secure her in a restraint I’m satisfied with. I can’t leave for the mortal world and leave her to escape and run around the castle freely. Even if my family is leaving later today, I can’t take any risks. The extra precautions are in place, so Olivia doesn’t get herself into any trouble.

I remember clearly what happened with Yazmine, who'd been kidnapped off the island by a group of female dragon shifters who didn't take kindly to humans. We've long since been able to diffuse any threats and prevent another incident like that from happening.

Felix's wedding on the island, in front of the entirety of the Aurora Dragons, ensured that.

I just can't help but feel like this woman will end up getting into hot water.

“So I’m back to being a prisoner?” she scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“It's for your own safety,” I assure her, tugging on the chains I've safely secured to a metal hook on the wall. With an un-pickable lock, I'm convinced there's no way she's leaving my bed.

“I'm quite capable of taking care of my own safety,” she huffs, defiantly tilting her chin away. She tugs at the chains in an attempt to cross her arms, which proves futile.

“On an island full of dragon shifters?” I taunt sarcastically. “I don't think so.” I lean down to check the restraints one more time, catching a whiff of the floral scent in her hair that almost disarms me.

I can't afford to be distracted right now.

Not when I have to deal with my brother's excitement to find my human mate in the mortal world.

Another mess of my own making that I'll have to navigate.

“Be good,” I warn her before leaving my bedroom, ensuring it's locked and impossible to get through.

***

“I think this is the place,” Stryker says as he stares up at the apartment building we've arrived at in Los Angeles.

His grand plan is to “accidentally” bump into Olivia in her apartment building, then charm my way into her heart.

I need to buy myself some time since Stryker is adamant about getting down to business now that we know who my mate is, thanks to the Cube.

“Why don't we er–” I pause, looking around the street, when I spot an open bar. I nudge my brother's arm and point at the joint. “Why don't we have a drink first?”

Stryker chuckles, raising a skeptical brow. “Do you need something to take away the jitters?”

“Something like that,” I lie, crossing the street with Stryker following me.

I know I can't lie to him forever. But I can distract myself long enough to figure out how to tell him that Olivia Jackson is already on the island, tied to my bedpost.

As soon as we enter the bar, we're able to turn heads, as we often do on our visits to the mortal world. Stryker orders our drinks while I lose myself in the attention of a group of women seated at the bar.

All it takes is one glance at the pretty women for them to swoon. While I lap at the attention, in the back of my mind, I can't help but wonder why Olivia seems unfazed by my presence.

Shrugging the thought away, I focus on using my charms where they always work. Small joints like these often produce the most exquisite one-night stands.

I can do with the distraction.

“Hey…” Stryker draws my attention to him, and I notice his disbelieving frown when I turn.

“What?” I chuckle as I reach for my drink. I can practically feel the women's swooning gazes boring into the back of my head as I take a deliberate sip.

“We're not here to fool around, Stryder,” my brother whispers as if we're on a top-secret mission. “We're here to find your mate, remember?”

Chugging down my whiskey, I stare ahead blankly as if to prepare myself for the moment of truth.

“There's no need to find her…” I sigh heavily, the weight of my secret almost off my shoulders.

“Are you having second thoughts, Brother?”

Second… Third… Many thoughts end with me giving up my chance to fulfill the duties bound to me by the dragon clan.

If only my inner dragon would comply and allow me to set the human free.

“That's not the problem here, Stryker.”

“So, there is one…” he nods, taking a sip of his drink.

“She's on the island already,” I reveal flatly, to which Stryker slowly turns his face to me, eyes widening curiously.

“Why didn't you tell me? More importantly, how did this happen?”

Taking a deep breath, I keep my gaze fixed on a half-empty bottle of Jack on the shelf behind the bar. I'm usually a half-full kind of guy, but right now, I'm not very optimistic.

I hadn't been planning on telling Stryker the truth any time soon. In fact, I didn't have a plan. I'm just going with the flow, and leaving the island for a night out in the city sounded like a good idea.

Stryker thought we were coming here to meet my mate for the first time. I just needed to get away from the island, away from her, away from the responsibilities that shackle me to dishonesty.

I just can't do it anymore. That's why I finally came clean, telling my twin everything. He listens intently, not as surprised as I thought he'd be when I told him how I saved her and took her to the island.

I just don't have the heart to tell him about my reluctance to go ahead with having her as my mate.

“Fuck…” he murmurs under his breath, ordering another round of drinks. “So we're not here to find her?”

“Not while she's locked in my bedroom.”

“You have her locked up?!” he exclaims, the shell of his ears reddening the way they do whenever he becomes angry.

I know, because I react the same way when I'm furious.

I quickly scan our surroundings to make sure he hasn't drawn attention to us. “She hasn't exactly warmed up to me.”

Stryker lifts a questioning brow. “And why is that?”

I shrug, unable to bring myself to that part.

“This is unbelievable,” he clicks his tongue. “We agreed that using force isn't the way,” he says disappointedly, rising to his feet and shaking his head. Our night out has come to an end when he tosses a few notes on the counter and leaves the bar. I rush out after him, finding him in the alley between the bar and Olivia's apartment building.

“What are you doing, Stryker?”

“I'm going back home,” he grunts, fists curled on his sides. “I thought we were on the same page, but it seems like you're not who I thought you were.”

His words cut bitterly into my chest, and I know I deserve it. But hearing from him only adds to my regret. How can I tell him I don't care for the human mating process without disappointing him even more than he is right now?

“You don't understand, Stryker–” I begin, but he cuts me off with a dismissive hand.

“Save it, Brother,” he spits venomously. “You're wrong for this, and you know it.” With that, Stryker closes his eyes and shifts into dragon form, leaving me behind to wallow in self-loathing and contemplating if I should follow him or immerse myself in distractions for another night.