32. Chapter Thirty-Four

Amara slipped underneath the covers and looked up at me.

"You hurt him," she said. "At least we know he bleeds."

I bent down with one arm on each side of her. "Of course, he bleeds, Amara. And he'll die just like anyone else that crosses me. You're my mate, and I will fight to the death for you."

A saddened look washed over her face. "Do you think it will come to that? To death?"

Running my fingertips against her forehead, I rubbed the worry from her skin. "Yes, for one of us."

She closed her eyes causing a tear to slip down her cheek. "I don't want it to be you. We just found one another. You can't leave me before we get our happily-ever-after."

I wanted to be realistic and tell her that not everyone got that, but I couldn't disappoint her. "My dad is on his way up, and I'm going to tell him to get his army ready."

She sighed heavily. "I like that you don't lie to me, but sometimes it'd be reassuring—enough to help me sleep—to tell me you'll make it through."

Leaning forward, I brushed my mouth against hers. "I will make it through."

"Thank you," she whispered.

Standing up, I watched her body relax into the bed, and her eyes close from exhaustion. It was a relief to know she had time to sleep.

All I could give her was an empty promise that I would make it when I didn't know if I would. I'd sliced his cheek open, and the blood dripping down his porcelain skin made my dragon happy.

I wish I'd hit him between the eyes like I'd aimed for.

He wasn't one to get hit usually. I saw that in his gaze. It'd shocked him, and I planned to shock him more than ever when he brought his army here.

The sound of the front door opening brought me out of the room and down the hallway. Zerk sat in the living room uncomfortably, and when I rounded the corner, I realized why. My father had brought my mother.

Peachy.

"Dorran," Father said, sitting down beside Zerk. "I like this place. It's isolated and perfect for a honeymoon."

I stopped on the opposite side of the room and gawked. "Sadly, this honeymoon has gone to Hell."

Mother shifted next to the couch, sitting down on the arm, she folded her own. "You realized you shouldn't have mated with the human? Now she's attached and you need our help?"

"And what? I'm ready to run back to the castle and bone one of your East Kingdom sluts? Get over it, Mother. Amara is my mate forever."

Sighing, she glanced over at my father. "Why did you call us up here? What do you need?"

I cleared my throat. "Amara began to have powers over the last couple of weeks."

This caught my mother's attention. "Powers? Like a dragon ..."

"No," I hissed. "Her stepmother, Helena Tremaine, raised her and she was sheltered and mistreated. She had no way to reach out to someone to find out what was going on, so I took her to The South Kingdom, and we found out everything."

Dad looked over his glasses at me with a serious look. "Well, spit it out, Son."

"She's a siren. A hybrid that was hidden in our kingdom, and now they know she's alive. A male siren is after her. The short story is that I need your help. He's coming, and frankly, I'm afraid. They are powerful, and Evian wants to kill her."

Father stared at me with widened eyes. "Son, are you serious? You think that I'm going to waste my army"s time training to fight some mythical sirens—,"

"They aren't mythical."

Zerk turned to look at them both. "With all due respect, I was here when he showed up. It's real, and we need to prepare the kingdom."

Mother scoffed and turned her head. "This is ridiculous, Dorran. Sirens? Those were fairytales told when we were children—,"

"We're dragons!" Dorran said. "Faes, vampires, and werewolves exist, and you think I'm crazy for telling you my mate is a siren? Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? I'm telling you that I need your help to save this kingdom—,"

Father stood up. "Son, our kingdom is vulnerable right now. We're merging, trying to get warriors into the groove of working with each other; we can't toss them into some war with a species we know nothing about. Have you considered giving Amara to the sirens?"

I blinked, staring at the serious look on my father's face. Were they telling me that they wouldn't help save my mate? That they wanted me to toss my mate to the wolves? My dragon grew pissed, but my heart split into two pieces. My parents didn't give two cents about my life because my mate wasn't a dragon.

"You are never going to accept Amara, are you?" I asked, glancing between the two of them. "Why is it that you two gave up searching for your mates to be with one another? Because drawing an alliance between your two kingdoms was that important? I won't apologize for wanting to be happy. I won't give Amara up. You both can see your way out. I won't tolerate one more second of being in your company."

Father reached forward and put his palm on my shoulder. "I want you to be happy, Son. I don't mind that your mate isn"t a dragon, but I can't kill my army this way."

My gaze shifted toward Mother who stared at the floor. At that moment, my dragon wanted me to toss her off the side of the mountainside, and part of me wanted to make him happy.

The royal part of me understood not jeopardizing the entire kingdom, but the human side didn't understand my parents" lack of sympathy.

"I will fight them alone, and you can crown Damien as king. I want nothing to do with a family that can't pull together to save the one thing that matters to me. I'm so madly in love with her that the thought makes my dragon heartbroken. I wish you two understood that."

Mother stood up and folded her arms over her chest. "You're being melodramatic. It's the mate bond—,"

"It's not," I snapped. "It's the fact that my parents won't pull together to help me, or even offer a plan to save my mate."

I turned away from them, and my father's hand fell from my shoulder. When the door shut behind them, I felt Zerk walk over and put his hand where my father's hand had been. "I'm sorry, Son. I didn't think they would react that way."

"Half of me is not surprised," I said, facing him. "I was hoping they would pull the kingdoms together, but my mother's inability to have compassion for anyone that doesn't help her agenda is baffling."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I only have a handful of warriors that I know would stand by me, and it's not going to be enough to save us. Perhaps if the sirens show up and start destroying the city, Father will have no choice but to call the warriors."

Zerk frowned. "I'm afraid that will be too late.

The front door swung inward, and Damien formed in the doorway. I hadn't seen my brother in a while, and I'd almost missed his sarcastic ass.

"What is it?" I asked.

Damien chuckled, walked inside, and shut the door with his boot. "I overheard your dilemma, Brother, and I'm sad to say that our parents are even more selfish than I thought. What a shame. Hey Zerk," he said, nodding his way.

"Is that why you're here? To rub it in?"

His features turned serious. "No, I'm here to say that I will talk to the guards and the warriors myself. Let them know what's going on so they can prepare amongst themselves. They're not doing anything other than training and pretending to get along, but maybe if they know sirens are coming, they'll be willing to train without father knowing?"

I examined him. Damien often had underlying reasons for things, but I couldn't pinpoint an advantage for him. "Why should I believe you? Father will be livid if he finds out that you told them."

"He'll change his mind when the sirens arrive, won't he?"

"You've seen a siren before? Do you even know what we're up against?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "Your mate. She's beautiful and alluring. I don't deny you for a second. If they are anything like her, then they are seductive and—,"

"Okay," I said, my eyes narrowing. "I get it. Amara is beautiful, and from what I've seen of the others, they are too."

I swallowed the acid in my throat at the mention of Evian being easy on the eyes.

"And they are unpredictable. They all have different powers."

Damien leaned back against the closed door and pursed his lips. "That's unfortunate for us, isn't it? I will make sure they know, however, I'm not sure I want to tell The East Kingdom."

Zerk sat down, rubbing his knee as if standing on it hurt. "Why is that? The King made it out that we are all getting along."

"We are," he said, blowing a piece of blond hair from his forehead. "I just don't know if I trust them. It feels uneasy in the castle with them there."

As if we don't have enough problems.

I shrugged. "It's up to you, Brother. Tell them if you want. I just need numbers on our side."

Damien nodded. "I will speak with them tonight after dinner, and let you know in the morning. If we can gain their trust they'll go against Father. I'm afraid he'll tell the sirens to take Amara. I pray he doesn't, but at this point, I don't know what he'll do."

"You and me both," I mumbled.

"I'm curious, what are Amara's powers?"

"It started with levitating, and then she put Toby on his ass with her hands. Never touched him."

He smiled. "I knew she was special."

My dragon grew irritated, and Damien sensed it. "Don't be so touchy, Brother. She is my sister-in-law. He turned toward the door. "I don't care what mother says. I'm happy you found her, and I would love to get to know her when all of this is over with."

Damien and I had a game of who could piss the other one off the quickest growing up, but deep down, we'd always be brothers. "Thank you for your help, Damien."

"You can thank me later."

Knowing someone from my family had my back made me feel safer than before.

Zerk cleared his throat. "You need to sleep, Dorran. You didn't sleep last night, and in case the siren comes back, you'll need to be by Amara's side tonight. Tomorrow, if she can make it, she needs to wait until nightfall to take her medicine, so she can get back on a normal sleeping schedule. Go sleep. I will watch the place, and gather what I can on the sirens."

"Thank you for all your kindness, Zerk."

"Of course. I will work on a protection spell for the cabin to keep him out. It's been a while, so I don't know how long it will take."

I walked down the hallway, stripping out of my sweats, and kicking them across the room. For the first time in a few days, I felt alone with Amara.

Amara was so still, and she didn't stir when I slipped in beside her. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her to my chest, loving the little moan that left her.

I wanted that every day. That innocence. That warmth. The unproblematic relationship with my mate. The love I had growing inside of me for her ... to last. To get the time it deserved.

And I would get it.

No matter what.