Chapter Two

Callum

I t took some time, but I’d finally gotten a rotation back to the Dragon Isles. Although it was home, I wasn’t interested in a homecoming. Not yet. I had something more important to do first.

As soon as the green-blue ocean gave way to sandy shores, I made a beeline toward the single mountain near the center of the largest isle. Each beat of my mighty wings drew me closer, but it also increased the weight on my shoulders. A burden I’d carried for several weeks now.

Ever since I’d seen that human. The one who’d stared into my soul.

The air around me shimmered with heat as my temper flickered and grew, the fire of my very blood expressing its matching disdain. Not for the human but for myself.

I’d committed a betrayal. One I might never be able to return from.

The sprawling stone complex jutting from the side of the mountain grew swiftly as I closed in on it. The palace was home to the Sovereign of All Dragonkind. Ruler of our people. She and many of our people were housed there, including the palace guards, of which I was one.

But it wasn’t my destination. I flew above it with a single-minded focus, following a small footpath from the palace into the meadows above. The guards on the roof watched me as I went, their eyes always on the sky for any potential danger.

I landed roughly, my claws tearing into the soft dirt, though I barely noticed. My attention was fixated on one area in particular. Statues dotted the open meadow, honoring the ancestors and heroes of ages past. Sculpted bushes and flowers flowed everywhere, delineating pathways for those to follow while still managing to make it look natural.

The Meadow of Martyrs, as it was often called, simply for the alliteration, was a popular place for many in the palace to retreat from everyday life. To seek tranquility and unity with nature.

It was also where my mate had been found dead.

Reaching the corner of the field, behind the statue of an ancient warrior king, I sank down, my back against the stone base, and stared at the ground. A patch of greenery a little darker than the rest was the only indication of where she’d fallen. Where her blood had sunk into the ground, feeding the plant life.

It was all I had left of her.

Dragons didn’t bury their dead, nor did we build tombs. Death was to be embraced, a part of the journey. Mourning was short and sweet, and then we moved on. Supposedly.

I glanced down at my chest through the collar of my shirt. The emerald-green scale was still adhered to my skin. A part of me. A memory of the one who’d given it to me. The love of my life. A woman I’d connected with on a deeper level than any other. The only person who could look into my eyes and I could look back, and we saw not one another but eternity.

It was something I’d thought lost forever. Until the human in the helicopter.

“My love,” I whispered softly. “I’m sorry. I have betrayed you.”

Saying the words, ones I’d longed to say ever since the encounter, should have freed me, helped assuage the guilt coursing through my veins. But it didn’t.

“I don’t know what happened,” I said, continuing to speak quietly lest anyone hear me. “There was a … a moment. The world disappeared around me, and I was locked with her. A human! I know it should be impossible, but …”

My eyes closed, I traveled back to the exact moment it had happened. When my dragon had climbed down from the rooftop, ready to incinerate the helicopter and its contents. The air had rushed through my nostrils, deep into my chest, where the fires of my beast were awoken. Ready to rush out and bathe the metal war machine in flames.

As I’d prepared to attack, my gaze had been drawn to the cockpit, attracted by movement as the wounded pilot reached for the controls. I’d taken a moment to admire the warrior’s bravery in their last moments, a fighter until the end. It was then I’d decided to look them in the face and respect that courage. They’d known the fight was over, but they weren’t giving up.

My first shock had been discovering it was a woman. Female dragons fought alongside males indiscriminately, but humans were still incredibly sexist on that front. I’d paused, and at that moment, our eyes had locked.

The deep, dark depths of her brown orbs had sucked me in without resistance, catching me wildly off-guard. After all, a connection with a human? A joke.

But the joke had become serious as I saw deep into her soul, into the eternity of life that was every beat of her heart and flicker of nerves.

I broke off the memory with a gasp, breathing hard, shocked by how vivid the recollection had abruptly become. It was like she was there in front of me again.

My dragon thrashed angrily. It wanted the human woman. Wanted to lay her out before us with her clothes removed and her legs spread. The only thing it could think about was claiming her body as our own. Blood stirred between my legs, but I shut it down.

Now was not the time and most definitely not the place for the thoughts that had plagued my dreams.

Now was the time for apology and atonement.

“I don’t understand,” I said, allowing my head to fall back against the stone base, looking skyward in frustration. “Why me? Why am I still here? We were bonded. I should have gone with you!”

The angry cry echoed out over the mountaintop meadow. I didn’t care. Everyone thought the same. I should’ve died when Noa did. Bonded mates were completely and totally linked.

Except for me. I’d somehow lived through her death. Not only that but I was also getting shaken up by a human woman!

“Ridiculous,” I snarled, getting to my feet, eternally glad the war was coming to a close, that the sovereign had offered the humans ceasefire terms. I could soon return to the isles permanently.

Instead of the fighting, all I had to look forward to was the looks from my fellows, who all wondered why I was still alive.

Maybe the fighting wasn’t so bad after all …

That was a lie, and I knew it the instant I thought it. The war wasn’t fighting. It was just killing. My hands were covered in blood, and like many others, I wasn’t proud of it.

“Callum.”

I spun at the unexpected sound, my eyes taking in the uniformed figure of one of the palace guards.

“Dyson,” I said, politely acknowledging one of my peers, looking resplendent in his scale armor in the open air. “What can I do for you?”

The other dragon glanced past me. Likely trying to see who I’d been talking to. He probably didn’t recognize the particular location. After all, why should anyone? It had been two years since Noa’s death. There was no need for him to remember.

“The sovereign had expectations that you would report in upon your return,” Dyson said, disdain hovering at the edges of his words. He tossed his perfectly blond hair over his shoulder. Blue eyes stared down his well-defined nose.

“And I intend to,” I said.

“The orders were as soon as possible,” Dyson pointed out.

“Exactly,” I fired back. “And as soon as it is possible, I will .”

Dyson liked to think he was my superior because he had been inducted into the palace guards a full two weeks before me. That might have mattered in the first few months. Ten years later, it didn’t mean a damn thing. Not to me. He still took it seriously.

“I’ve been sent up here to get you. You were noted flying overhead but did not land.”

“Awfully fast for someone to send you up here,” I muttered, knowing full well the overzealous guardian of the palace had taken his own initiative to come to bother me.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” I strode past him, intentionally shouldering him aside.

I knew what the sovereign wanted to see me about. Rumor had already reached me on that front. I was to lead the team that would oversee the transfer of the human woman to secure the ceasefire between our peoples.

“I’ll go if you don’t want to,” Dyson called, hurrying to catch up as I took the footpath back toward the palace, opting to walk instead of fly.

“Of course you would. You’d do anything to suck up.”

Dyson growled angrily, but I ignored him and just kept walking. I didn’t want the job. I was happy there would be no more fighting, but I didn’t see the need to bring humans back to the isles. It was unnecessary.

Truthfully, I would’ve gladly handed the job off to someone else. But seeing Dyson’s eagerness, I knew I would see to it myself if only to piss him off. One more trip, and then I would be done with anything to do with humans for good.

It couldn’t come soon enough.