Chapter Thirteen

Fred

Had it all been a dream? My eyes wouldn't open, but I was still on the ship. The room smelled like me and Castor and a bit like Teddy. Okay, there it was. The smell of the liar lingered in the air, wrapping around me and hitting me in all the spots that their scent had no right to touch me. Despite what Lotus said about me finding someone else to love, it had never been in my plans. Sure, we had an open relationship at one point and maybe we would again when she came back, but until then I was waiting for her. I wiggled my toes willing myself awake. The fiery fight hadn't been a dream, but at least I was back on the ship. My dragon overheated himself trying to burn the liar alive. Only, was he a liar? He wasn't wrong about the freckle, but that was none of his Frost-damned business.

"Why am I in my underwear?" I asked the room as soon as I realized the cold air playing on my skin wasn't fended off by clothing.

"Because the doctor wanted to cool you down and check for burns. He covered you in ice too, but it all evaporated off."

"Why are you here?" I asked still not opening my eyes.

I wasn't sure how this guy pulled off his lie, but if I felt the true-mate response he must be feeling it too. That meant I was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt me. Hell, truth be told, I was probably more dangerous to him than he was to me.

"Why am I tied up?" I asked, pulling at whatever was wound tight around my wrists and ankles.

"Because the captain thought you might wake up and set the ship on fire," the liar said.

"Where's Teddy?" I asked, cutting to the most important question.

"Having dinner with the rest of them."

"Why aren't you there?" I growled.

"Because I didn't want you to wake up alone. Besides, it hurts to be too far away from you. How's your chest feeling?" The liar rambled on.

"My chest? What about it?" I asked, still not opening my eyes.

He sighed and I imagined him rubbing the heel of his hand over his forehead. The stranger was blonde like Lotus. His hair was golden blonde a striking contrast to the orange scales he'd shown off first on his knuckles and then all over his body when he shifted. He was small. His scent gave him away as an omega dragon, but it was his shifted size that told me that he wasn't a day over thirty. I'd slept for longer than this guy had been alive.

The mattress under me shifted and a second later a thigh pressed against either side of my stomach. The cocky son-of-a-bitch straddled over me with his hands resting on my sternum. I didn't need my arms and legs to fight. I only needed my mouth and thankfully, Izora hadn't done something asinine like muzzling me.

"Are you really not going to look at me?" he sighed, his breathing playing at my chest and neck.

"Who are you?" I asked, ignoring his questions as his pleasant weight settled onto my belly.

I gave myself a hard mental shake as my body responded to him. I was never a monk. I never did well celibate. Sex was great. Romping was fucking fantastic. Skin on skin and mouths going everywhere. That was the pleasure most of us chased down forever. Only I didn't want it with him. It didn't matter how much he smelled like mine. It was a lie. It had to be, because Lotus was my true-mate. Sure, if our version of ethical non- monogamy had time to grow, we might've loved others just as much, but Vulpine Degenerative disease took that from me.

"Open your eyes and I'll tell you my name," he said.

"Fine," I said, shrugging as much as I could manage with my hands tied to the headboard.

I could've broken it. One good yank from either of my arms would've splintered the wood. That might've hurt the asshole trying to conquer my body. I wasn't sure I wanted to do that. At least not before he gave me the answers I needed.

"I loved her too, you know," he said a second later, realizing I wasn't about to give up and look at him.

"You didn't know her. There's not even an Other World Gateway on this world is there?"

"I'm not answering any of your questions until you look at me. I'm not talking to your eyelids."

"I don't need my eyes to hear," I growled.

"Am I that frightening?" he asked.

"I've seen enough of you. Felt enough of you too," I said, bucking my hips up in a warning.

I smelled him blush as my half-hard dick brushed against him. My Moonscale Stud boxers and whatever he wore didn't provide much protection between our bodies.

"Do you really want me to get up?" he asked a second later, smelling more flustered than before.

I didn't say anything. Two could avoid answering questions. Maybe that would be our checkmate. We'd sit here forever or at least until our dragons conked out. Perhaps this was where Lotus would find us, asleep. Me bound to the bed and him trespassing on the body she once curled into at every opportunity. She'd eat him alive. Only she wouldn't have to. When she came back, I'd wake up and do it for her. Too bad we weren't on Earthside. Zoey might come get her.

"I'm not moving until you answer me," he said. "I can sit here forever. I'm a dragon too, you know. I'm just as stubborn as you think you are, and I have the home field advantage."

"Not your ship," I laughed.

"My world."

"Really? You're the king?" I asked.

"Not exactly," he said, his scent turning embarrassed.

"Caught you in a lie, huh?"

"Not so much. It's my world more than it's yours."

"Were you the one to invite me here?"

"Yes," he said.

I still hadn't opened my eyes. I was gaining ground in our standoff, but it felt like a hollow victory.

"My uncle is the leader of Starscale 1," he said a second later when I didn't ask anything else. "There are three worlds. All Starscale made. My ancestors collected bits of stuff from all over the place to craft them around the tiny purple sun."

"The sun really is purple, huh?" I laughed, remembering the fog.

"Yes. The sky isn't purple, though. The atmosphere is. It's complicated. I've answered several of your questions. Will you open your damn eyes now?" he asked, his fingers rubbing back and forth over my skin.

"Why?"

"I'd like to look at you while I tell you everything."

"I'm not closing your eyes," I shrugged again.

"Have it your way," he sighed, tensing above me.

For a second, I thought he was about to give up and scramble off the bed. Not a snowball's chance in Frost's Pit. He leaned down, stretching out his torso along mine until skin met skin and his head rested above my heart. The sweet and metallic scent of his arousal filled the room. His skin was warm against mine. It was nice. It was comforting. It was almost home. ALMOST. And I didn't want a damn part of it.

"I really did know her in the Other World, Fred," he sighed, his breath playing over my nipple. "I wouldn't lie about a thing like that. It's why I invited you here. There's two ways to prove that. One, is the good old-fashioned way. We exchange the claiming vows."

My dragon sat up inside me, ready to rip free from our bonds the moment he got too handsy. Laying on me was one thing, starting to grope and lick was another. Only his hands didn't move. They rested on either side of his face as if he kept them there in case he needed to sit up quickly.

"Not happening. What's the other way?" I asked.

"It'll take longer, but it's probably the best way," he sighed.

"Which way is that?"

"The way I originally planned it. I just didn't know how long it would take to grow in. It's not like we get many visitors. Seriously, I don't think we've ever had one. Well, maybe. Uncle Hush and the others might've hidden it from us peons."

"Peons, huh?" I chuckled. "You don't fight like a peon, but what are you expecting to grow in?"

"Your star scale. It'll grow in right over your heart now that we've met."

"We're not true-mates, dude," I said, trying to sound casual.

"We are," he sighed again.

"What? You steal Lotus's bond with me?" I grunted at him.

"Fuck you!" He said, pushing up on his palms as if he meant to get up. I was about to say ‘finally' when the fucker chomped down on my nipple.

"What the fuck? Listen here! You do that again and I'll pull every tooth out of your mouth and make you fucking eat them!"

"Do it!" he growled back. "You must have some big fucking balls to accuse me of that! I loved her too! I'm here for her! She warned me you were stubborn, but she didn't say you were a professional asshole!"

He sniffled and my heart sank into my stomach. As long as his magic mimicked a true-mate response I'd be at his mercy.

"Are you crying?" I snapped at him.

"No!" He growled but smelled like a lie. "It's all your fault I'm crying. We're true-responding and you're sending my fucking hormones into overdrive and you're being an asshole!"

"Dude, look, why do you think we're true-mates?" I sighed.

"Open your eyes!" He growled and slapped my chest.

That time I opened my eyes. He had really long hair. Longer than it had looked from the ship's opening. It was long and blonde and cascaded down to his navel. He was beautiful. Orange scales marked his brow and the lowest part of his plump bottom lip. I could've kissed him. I would've if he really was my true-mate, but that was Lotus. I reached to wipe a fat tear from his cheek, but my bonds stopped me.

"Do you want me to let you go?" he asked, and I shook my head.

I could get out any time I wanted to. Izora tied me up to remind me of my strength. It was something dragons did from time to time if they were going through particularly stressful life events.

"Why do you think I'm your true-mate?" I asked again, trying and failing to soften my voice.

"Because I am," he blinked his big indigo eyes.

"Why?" I asked again, frustration curdling in my stomach.

"Because I am. You have one gland for Lotus. Her bite's still there," he sniffled, looking down at my shoulder. "You have another one, though. I can see it swelling up from here."

Out of instinct I rubbed my jaw against the other shoulder and winced. Yep. He was right. It was there.

"Tell me more about this star scale thing. Not the flight, but the one you say will grow in on my chest. Will it be like yours?" I asked, nodding to the biggest scale marking his human form that I could see. It was a bright orange star right over his heart.

"I don't know what color it will be," he shook his head. "It doesn't always match the other scales. I just got lucky that way. Yours is still flesh colored."

He traced his finger along a star shape over my heart. I looked down and squinted. If I squinted hard enough, I could just make out the outline of a star.

"Come here," I said.

"How can I come any closer?" he laughed.

"Let me smell your neck," I said. "The side with your supposed claiming gland."

"Do you believe me?" he asked.

"I'm still deciding. The freckle could've been a lucky guess," I shrugged.

He leaned in closer, and his scent slapped me in the face. He smelled so good. He smelled so much like home, but he wasn't. He couldn't be. He wasn't Lotus. He never had been Lotus. At least, he wasn't making that claim. I'd snap his neck if he had. He was close enough to lick. So I did. I ran my tongue along his claiming gland and he winced, but didn't pull away.

"See," he said. "It's all swollen up for you."

His voice dropped low and husky. He wasn't in heat, just horny. Incredibly horny. Just like me. Just like any newly met true-mate would be.

"Forehead to mine," I said, and he listened.

"You're awful bossy for a man who's tied to the bed," he grinned when our flesh met.

"You really think these ropes would hold me?" I asked.

"Probably not, but you're still bossy."

"You're pretty damn obedient for a man who just met me," I countered.

"You haven't told me to do anything I haven't wanted to yet," he said.

"Listen, we're going to do this thing. I don't have time to wait around on a scale that might or might not show up. So, we're going to take the first option. You're slick. I'm hard. Your pheromones are fucking killing me. So, we're going to do this and if I find out you lied or you hurt Lotus in anyway, I'll kill you, magic or not. I've known heaven with her in my arms and hell the day she had to leave me. Spellcrafted love won't protect you, because I've known the realest thing to ever breathe life in any solar system."

He let out a long, slow breath before speaking. He smelled pained, but I meant what I said. He wouldn't have been the first asshole I put out of everyone else's misery if he turned out to be a con dragon.

"I didn't hurt her. I'm not lying. This isn't spellcrafted. You'll see."

"I better," I growled at him. "Now, what's your name?"

"Elio," he finally told me.

"Do you want the claiming vows, Elio?" I asked.

"More than I've wanted anything in a long time," he whispered just before I kissed him.