20. Tyson

CHAPTER TWENTY

TYSON

I f I fucked Tia hard enough, enough times, I could move past all of this.

Thick curtains turned my bedroom into a dark cave filled with sweaty air and the sounds of slapping bodies. I drove my cock deep into Tia, who lay face down with her ass perfectly lined up for me. Her swollen pussy gripped my erection, chasing away every emotion but hot desperate need.

"Harder, baby," Tia moaned.

Her voice grated against my ears, but I followed her directions because it was easier than facing the truth.

Tia dipped her thin waist. "Spank me, baby, hard. I've been a bad dragon."

I obeyed and pounded her harder as if I could turn her into someone she wasn't. Sex made my blood rush, but it didn't chase away my thoughts. I closed my eyes, and Wiggles' smirk filled my mind. Her squeaky laughter mixed with the slaps echoing around me. I came hard and fast, my release blinding me for one blissful moment.

"Baby, look at me," Tia said, craning her head to see me. "Keep going. I'm close."

"I said don't talk," I growled, pulling my spent dick out of her and rolling to the side.

She sat up and slapped me hard. I didn't even try to get my scales up; I just let the pain tingle my cheek. I deserved that and more.

"Fuck you, Tyson," Tia spat. "I'm not just a body."

"You're not," I said, knowing the right words even if they were a lie.

I'd spent my life saying the right words, yet to my mate, I hadn't been able to find them. What was wrong with me?

"Then prove it." Tia trapped my face between her hands. "We can fix this. We can be together like it was. Stop talking and finish me with your eyes open." She clicked a button on my nightstand, and the curtains opened.

The darkness hiding me from reality cracked to the sound of a little motor. Sun kissed Tia's pale skin and thin waist. Sweat ran between her massive tits, and I focused on those. Feck, she had nice tits.

"Tyson," Tia said, a hint of humor in her anger.

I didn't look up from her breasts. "What?"

"Look at my face."

I tore my eyes away from her swollen, hard nipples and met her gaze. She was still hot, but she wasn't what I wanted. I'd thrown what I wanted away. My stomach soured, and bile rose in my throat.

I shoved to my feet and stomped to my balcony. "I need to fly." I threw the sliding door open so hard the glass cracked, leaving a jagged line between the two panels.

"I love you, Tyson," Tia said softly. "Let me know what we need to do to fix this. We can set up a hunt! Get your blood boiling."

"No," I barked. Even the idea of hunting someone other than my mate stabbed my heart.

My mate. My Wiggles.

I botched this, so badly.

Heat poured out of me as my body swelled with my shift. The ache of growing bones and lengthening muscles briefly passed. My skin hardened into scales. Despite my turmoil, I took a moment to admire my deep red dragon hide glistening in the sun before anger and pain fought to claim my heart once more. I hadn't told a soul what I did in the forest, and despite scouring social media, the feckin water heir kept it to himself.

I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or worse.

I spread my wings and roared my frustration into the sky. Shame tried to eat me alive and pulled me into my past. I'd just been a boy, too caring with too much empathy. My weakness was my family's greatest disgrace. Rightly so, my sire used his fists to coax the dominant dragon out of me. Once I found my strength, my dragon came to life in a ball of fiery fury. My sire set me on a better path. But somehow, that path led me right back to the same fecking shame I'd felt as a kid.

A mate bond was forever. Instead of letting Wiggles go, I'd bound her to me and still lost her.

No, I hadn't lost her. My mate bond took. Rehan's had to be a mistake. She had to be wrong about her fertility. If anyone could fix her, I could. I'd fixed myself.

I could do anything.

I roared, wishing I had my fire and dove. My moms would know more about fertility. They wrote Wiggles off, but if I stood up for her. My thoughts trailed off. I hadn't done it when my dad called her defective. Even if I had, then what? My family never supported my ideas. I'd been the defective one for most of my life. I was the youngest son. The spare.

My Dad had been so fast to call Doctor Raba and declare Wiggles unfit. And I just followed his lead, like I had my entire life.

A fat dragon tear dripped off my scales. I didn't think I could cry in my dragon form.

What the feck had I done?

A light blue dragon appeared in my line of sight. I snarled as much at it as myself. I'd flown straight toward my mate, hidden away in water territory. Our bond throbbed, pinpointing her location more accurately the closer I got to her. My nose crossed into Water territory, and fear filled the smaller blue dragon's eyes. But he didn't back down. I snorted and tipped my body, swinging back to my side of the border before banking for the coast.

I had to fix this.

The guard mirrored my movements, ensuring I stayed out of water dragon territory. I let the tip of my wings cross the border, occasionally swerving. Fear flashed in his eyes, and my confidence soared.

I wasn't a dragonless emotional fifteen-year-old, more than a decade behind my peers. I was Tyson, a prince, a fighter, a fecking mighty dragon who could do anything I put my mind to. In all my moodiness, I'd locked myself in a sex cave with Tia, praying she cured me of Wiggles.

But I didn't need a cure. I needed to fight for what I wanted. Feck my dad.

I'd get Wiggles back and fix this. All of this, her, me, my fire, Rehan's fecking entitlement. Being a first son didn't make him any better than me.

Although the water dragons owned a lot of the beach, they didn't own all of it. Vast areas of the island lay unclaimed between elemental territories to give us space. I landed, the sand bursting dramatically under me, just outside the invisible border. On instinct, I reached for my mate bond and pulled. If I couldn't get to her, she could come to me.

To my surprise, our bond tightened and tingled as if she acknowledged my pull, responding to my needs. I purred and leaned forward, waiting to feel her move.

The sound of the ocean sizzled against the rocky beach. The ground vibrated as two dragons landed well out of sight but still watching. Finally, her essence moved toward me, and I sucked in a tight breath of relief.

I shifted into my human form, leaving a collection of scales that protected my junk and preserved my modesty. Wiggles would like that.

The minutes stretched by, and the sun began its trek down the skyline. I wanted to go to my mate, but the invisible boundary into water dragon territory held me back. Bending the rules was one thing. Breaking them could start an actual war. A blue dragon circled lazily above me, and movement in the trees let me know an unshifted dragon joined the two already grounded.

Two specks appeared on the beach, and I narrowed my eyes, shifting them into their dragon slits to see better.

My mate walked at Rehan's side. A patterned throw made of blue and silver material covered her shoulders, occasionally exposing a silver bikini. I shifted my eyes back and scowled. Not my colors.

Of course, he came with her. He marked her, too. I seethed, glaring at both of them until they came to a halt.

Rehan took her hand, pulling her slightly behind him so she couldn't step past the invisible border. "How dare you summon my mate." He puffed out his chest, flexing his broad, bare human muscles.

I puffed up my chest. "She's my mate. I won The Hunt, not you!"

Rehan snarled. "You marked her after rejecting her. Get the fuck out of here."

"She's barren." I pointed at her, half-hidden behind Rehan. "She's defective..." Pain shot through my heart, repeating what my dad said, but I needed the water dragon to lose interest. "Useless. Give her back to me."

Rehan snarled and lunged for me. I stepped forward, happy to have someone my size to take my anger out on.

Honey skin, surrounded by a spray of soft black hair, slid between us. Wiggle's hand landed on my chest, and I pulled my punch. My anger instantly cooled, though I gritted my teeth to see her other hand on Rehan. My mate perfectly straddled the barrier between water and fire territory, holding back two grown dragons like it was child's play.

I feckin' loved it.

"Squeak," she snarled.

She pushed back against us, though neither of us budged an inch. However, neither of us growled anymore. She lowered her hands and pulled a phone in a blue and silver case off her hip. Her fingers flew over the screen before Rehan's pocket chimed, and he drew out his device.

He'd given her a way to communicate.

My world tilted.

I hadn't given her anything. She'd been in my room, her own stuff lost, and I hadn't lifted a finger to make her more comfortable. What was I doing?

Rehan placed his hand on her shoulder. "Love."

I clenched my fists. "She's not your love."

Rehan growled, and Wiggles stepped out from between us, shaking her head. She typed again, leaving me out of the conversation.

I wouldn't stand for that.

With a thought, I heated the air around her fingers. She dropped the phone with a sharp squeak, and my tail grew long enough to flick her device to me.

Wiggles lunged toward me, and my heart raced. If she came to my side of the border—before I could even finish the thought, Rehan pulled her back to water territory.

Good thing, too. If she came to me, I'd fly her out of here before Rehan blinked.

"Let him read it," Rehan murmured into my mate's ear, though he didn't kiss her.

I smirked seeing that. She was mine; he could hold her hand as much as he wanted, but my mark should shock the feck out of him as his did to me.

Check, beach-yacht.

Rehan snuggled her into his side, and she willingly rubbed against him. Instead of growling at them, I studied her last message.

Jay: He's just pissing you off. I need a blood sample and a scale from him. We're not going to get a better moment.

I narrowed my eyes and scrolled up.

They'd been chatting about everything from daily life to magic. I didn't read every message, but they were trying to fix her voice and something else I didn't quite catch onto. Probably a fertility potion.

I flipped as fast as I could to the start of their chat.

Not Betty: Not Betty?

Rehan: There's no way your paperwork's right.

Not Betty: You know you can talk, right?

Rehan: But you can't, and I want us to be on equal footing.

The side of Wiggle's phone bit into my palm and cracked as I squeezed it. I quickly dropped the device before I snapped it in half. The waves roared in my ears, and I sat hard. Rehan figured it out and didn't care. She lied on her paperwork. She came here to have kids but couldn't, which meant she came here for her own selfish reasons.

I fisted a handful of sand. Either Rehan didn't care, or he knew something I didn't. I wasn't sure which one was worse.

"Tyson?" Rehan asked, a note of actual concern in his voice.

"Feck you." I glared at the sand while jealousy and guilt flooded my stomach.

Water and fire were opposites. I shouldn't be anywhere near this asshole, except I was.

I pounded my fist against the sand. I should have been helping her from the beginning, not him.

I needed to fix this.

Her phone sat in the sand near my feet, and I snatched it up. Between one breath and the next, I had the settings opened. They were using the general chat service for the island, and her phone had no security on it. None. Stupid, technologically incompetent water dragons.

"What are you doing?" Rehan demanded.

I didn't look up from her device. My fingers flew across the screen as I downloaded and installed protections and, most importantly, a chat blocker so no one could spy on their conversations except me. I added myself to her contacts and sent her a quick note.

Tyson: You will respond to my messages, or I will destroy Rehan for hiding all of this. You're my mate, not his.

I read the message once it appeared and grimaced. I hadn't intended to come across as aggressive, but it was too late. I took off the horrid blue case before tossing the phone back to my Wiggles. She studied the cracked screen, and the blood drained out of her face.

I flexed my back muscles. "I'm going to send TECH over to secure your place, Rehan."

Rehan clenched his fist. "You're not."

I ignored him. "I require a fire ceremony." I snapped my fingers. "Wiggles will be front and center."

"Wiggles?" Rehan asked, pushing my mate further behind his back. "And no, that's your problem."

"It's your problem." I snarled. "You put out my fire and then took her from me."

"You just called her broken and useless, Tyson." Rehan punched the air in my direction. "She doesn't want anything to do with you."

"She wears my mate mark," I snapped, eyeing her neck. "She needs very sketchy things from me for this fertility concoction she's cooking up."

Rehan started lunging at me, but my mate grabbed his arm and held him back.

I took a deep breath, trying to decide how I felt about her actions. She protected me but touched him. After a few heartbeats, Rehan relaxed, and Wiggles dropped her grip on his thick bicep.

For now, they could equal out.

She took a step back, and her throw of blues and silvers brushed her thighs.

"Also," I smirked. "I'm sending a few girls over to get her a better wardrobe."

"This is the beach." Rehan threw his hands up in the air. "In the middle of summer, in the African heat. What do you think this is? Some sort of custody agreement? Fuck off, Tyson."

I grinned. I was a prince of freaking fire. Even if I wasn't an heir like him, I was higher on the totem pole. He could try and block my commands, but fire ruled this island.

My phone beeped, and I pulled it out.

Wiggles: It's not a fertility potion. I'm barren. No kids. Unfixable. Forever defective.

My heart broke to read the words, not just for myself but for her. I lived the first fifteen years of my life watching my peers fly and breathe fire, disappointing my dad - feck all fire dragons - just by existing.

"You're not defective." I grew my tail and whipped it against the sand. "I shouldn't have said that. And I should have defended you when my sire did."

I met Wiggle's gaze, and she nodded, her lips in a tight line, before going back to her phone.

Wiggles: I can't be what you want. Leave me with Rehan.

I shook my head. "Never, Wiggles. Everyone has a dragon inside of them. They just need to find it."

Wiggles blinked at me, and I pulled back, realizing what I'd said. How close I'd come to talking about a past I didn't want to remember.

"You're only with him because he's helping you," I said calmly. "So, I'll help you too."

Rehan's blue horns caught the light, and scales rippled across his face. The humidity in the air thickened with the water dragon's frustration, making the hairs around Wiggle's face curl. It was fecking adorable.

I turned my full attention to my mate, my Wiggles. "Do you want my blood and a scale or not?"

She nodded, pulling at a pack on Rehan's back. He grunted unhappily but dropped it into the sand. She rummaged around before withdrawing a thick needle.

I rubbed my cheek and studied her equipment. We used raw fire for everything. We could even control water with it, though I personally didn't know that trick. It was something only my sire and his inner circle knew. I'd asked only once. Three broken ribs later, I never made that mistake again. Asking questions was a weakness - one fire princes didn't need to indulge in.

Whatever Rehan planned to do would never be as powerful as fire dragons raw strength. I leaned into my truth and clamped down on my curiosity. A growl rumbled out of my chest, and I glared at Rehan. The Water heir reached for the needle, and I slashed my hand through the air. "She draws the blood."

Rehan's horns elongated. "I'm not letting you touch my mate."

I took a step forward and held my arm over the border, scanning the forest on my left and the dragons circling the sky. "There are at least six water dragons ready to strike. I can't do anything." I licked my lips, my gaze heating as I looked over my mate . Not his. "I bathed her. She slept curled in my arms. There isn't an inch of her I've not touched already."

I flicked my gaze to Rehan and smirked as he shifted uncomfortably. Mister too good to be true, hadn't done half of that. I'd bet my scotch collection on it.

Wiggles let out a frustrated squeak and stepped forward. She positioned my arm and wrapped a rubber strap around it before disinfecting my skin with too much experience. I watched her, still trying to understand how I'd thought the Betty on her sheet could be the woman in front of me.

I ignored too many signs. Wiggles lied to me; that was our truth, but I needed to explore why. Maybe she wasn't here by choice. But if that was true, then someone put her here. Someone outside who knew about us and thought we'd do what? My thought process halted, not understanding the motivation.

Rehan pranced unhappily behind her. Once she'd finished, I selected a small scale from the bunch hiding my dick, and pulled. A slight discomfort, like tearing off a scab, burned the spot before the scale came free. I held it out to her, ensuring our fingers brushed as she took it. Warm tingles ran up my arm.

Her gaze heated, and I grinned, knowing her arm tingled as well. She might want to be done with me, but we both knew she wasn't.

I kissed the fingers she had just touched. "I'll pick you up here for your fire ceremony lessons."

Before she could respond, I shifted and beat my wings, hopefully filling Rehan's eyes, mouth, and every other opening with sand. I roared. Four dragons in shades of blue flanked me, making sure I left water territory.

My heart raced, not with the unease from earlier but with excitement and purpose. I'd repair what I'd broken, and Wiggles would never look at another dragon again.