Chapter Fourteen

Madison

T he blonde pursed her lips in thought. I knew I was being pushy, and she had every right to deny me, but I just had to know why she was there.

Because if she had come there via a different method, perhaps there was a way to get back as well.

“Walk with me,” she said, “and I’ll give you the short version.”

I hurried to catch up with her, my shorter legs working harder to match her rangy strides.

“Did they kidnap you, too?” I asked before she got started, my curiosity driving me nuts with the need to know. “Before the rest of us? Are we not the first group to get dragged here?”

The woman shook her head. “No. I wasn’t kidnapped. It’s really not a good trend, though.”

“Trend? What do you mean, uh …” I fumbled, having no idea what her name was.

“Laura,” she supplied. “And you?”

“Madison.”

“Right. Well, Madison, the first thing you need to know is that the dragons didn’t start the kidnapping.”

We passed a pair of men in guard uniforms as we walked. Laura waved to them and said hello, including mentioning one of them by name. The men smiled back and nodded … respectfully, almost deferentially, to the human.

I filed that away, making a note to ask why they treated her that way. Then her words sunk in.

“They didn’t?”

“No. We did.”

I scoffed. “Bull. I fought the dragons. They’re basically invincible. No way we were able to kidnap one of them from here. As far as I know, no human even knows where here is anyway!” I waved around emphatically to mean the palace and the Dragon Isle beyond.

“You didn’t hear any rumors about why the war started?” Laura asked.

“Oh, sure, there were plenty. But I never gave them much credit. If we had a dragon in our possession months ahead of time, word would’ve gotten out. We would have known, one way or another, what was going on. It was just a lie the dragons made up to justify their invasion…”

Laura had tilted her head down to look at me, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows arching ever so slightly as she made it clear I was spouting off falsities.

“You seriously believe we kidnapped one of them?” I asked her.

“Yes, I do.” There was no doubt in her voice. No fanatical belief in a concept. The confidence was … calm. Not fervent.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I was there,” she explained. “I was part of the team assigned to study him. To discover all we could of who and what he was.”

“Oh.” It was a pathetically weak response to the admission of a secret so huge, but my brain was too busy readjusting itself to this new information.

“I was one of the techs on that team. It was our job to figure out what he was, where he was from—sure, he looked like a dragon, but was he of Earthen origin, or were dragons a race of aliens that had contacted us once before? As your face says, we had a million questions we needed the answers to. It was my job and the job of others to figure that out.”

“So, all that happened, all the fighting, the dying … that was your fault?”

Laura’s face darkened. “You have to remember, at first, we had no idea who or what he was. Or that there were more of them. We knew nothing. Would you have let an alien roam around our world free? Think of the panic. Besides, I was just a tech on the team. I had no authority to stop it.”

She wasn’t telling me everything, I could tell. But I didn’t get the impression she was lying either.

“So, what happened?”

“The war started, and our mission changed to figuring out ways to hurt them,” she said. “It was during this I ended up spending a lot of time with him. Getting to know him better.”

“So, he brought you with him when he escaped,” I filled in, everything becoming clear. “You’re his concubine? Is that how it works? They want me to do the same with Callum.”

“Maybe in his fantasies, I suppose, but no,” Laura said, laughing lightly as she shook her head. “You’ve got it all backward.”

“I do?”

“I asked him to bring me with him.”

My jaw hit the floor. “You what? How can you sound so happy?”

“I am happy,” Laura said. “The happiest I’ve ever been. Why else would I choose to come back here with him?”

“So, you chose to come here. You fell in love with him?”

“And how,” she added dreamily. “Vicek is the best man I’ve ever met. He treats me like a person and a princess, all in the same breath.”

“Sounds nice.” I had to wonder if Laura and I had anything in common after all. “Much better than being thrown into a chamber and selected one by one by random dragon men like we’re at some sort of meat market.”

Laura sighed. “I can understand how that is … unsettling.”

“So, why aren’t you up in arms about it now that you know we’re here against our will?” I pushed, curious as to her answer.

She stopped walking and faced me directly. “Has Callum treated you poorly? I know him, so I’m fairly certain of the answer, but …”

“No,” I was forced to admit. “He hasn’t. If anything, I’ve been the one giving it to him. But can you blame me? Again, kidnapping .”

“I doubt anyone would blame you,” Laura agreed. “It’s just that if I’ve learned one thing about dragons, it’s that things just work … differently with them. Especially when it comes to women and love and mating.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that if you’re here, with Callum, then I think you’re here for a reason. It sounds insane, I know,” she said, holding up both hands to keep me calm as she said it. “Trust me, I’m well aware I sound like a blithering idiot. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong ,” she added, reaching up to rub her breastbone in what appeared to be a subconscious manner.

She touched it in the same spot Callum’s scale was adhered to him. I couldn’t help but wonder about it, but it was her words that drew my attention first.

“You’re saying it like it’s a thing. Are you talking about ‘fate’?” I asked, waggling my fingers in the air.

“Yes. I am. Things are different with dragons, Madison. They aren’t human, and they operate in different ways. Their mate bonds are … incredible.” She shook herself. “And on the flip side, you being here is helping stop a war. A war that was killing so many. I can’t help but wonder if that’s a sacrifice worth making?”

“That’s easy to say when you aren’t the one being forced to make that sacrifice,” I pointed out.

“You’re very right. I can only wonder. I can’t relate. But you’re here now. There’s peace between our people. And maybe, just maybe, I’m right,” she said with a shrug. “And if I am, there’s something in store for you. All of you. If you choose to open yourself up to it.”

“Are you suggesting I Stockholm syndrome myself?” I asked bluntly.

“Nobody is going to force you,” Laura said.

“They’ve already forced me to be here. They’ve forced me to be with Callum, to live with him.”

“Nobody can force you to love him.”

“Love? That’s quite the jump, don’t you think?”

Laura smiled. “Not once you open your eyes, I don’t think. Discover that here is where you’re supposed to be.”

“I should be back home.”

Laura tilted her head. “If you were sent here against your will … does home really want you back?”

Opening my mouth to reply, I was cut off as someone down the hallway called Laura’s name.

“I’m sorry. I have to go. It was nice talking to you. I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

“You, too,” I said as she started hurrying away.

“Believe me,” she added over her shoulder. “It’s worth giving it a try.”

I watched her go, the last two points she’d made spinning around and around in my head, leaving me with one really big question.

What was I going to do?