Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

Magnus

As the rapid-fire questions that erupted from the three people surrounding me descended into chaos, I shut all of them out and focused only on her.

I had gotten nothing from Rose that might have even hinted at something otherworldly. Well, other than the fact she'd managed to poison my dragon and bind him in a way he'd never been restricted before. No fae other than my uncle had found a way to manipulate me like that. The kind of power that should take was immense.

My eyes narrowed as the implications of what Kitra had said began to sink in.

It had taken a while to believe Rose truly had no ill intentions toward me, and now I was right back to not being sure. Kitra had managed to blow up what little trust I had in a matter of seconds.

Of course, she could be wrong. That was the more likely path. Except Kitra had inherited a lot of magic. I couldn't ignore the power she controlled.

"You are all nuts. And all the more reason for every one of you to get out of my house. Especially you," she spat in my direction. "At least you're right about one thing. I. Am. Not. Your. Mate." She dropped her hands from her hips and took in a deep breath. I could see her trying to reach for a semblance of calm, but if she had cared to listen, I would tell her she'd never see it around me. My dragon was the opposite of calm and his emotions took over everything.

A dark swirl of emotion filtered through my mind before passing through the rest of my body until it wrapped around my heart and settled there. The dragon wasn't going to let her in. And the only way I could protect her from him would be to keep her as far away from me as possible.

"Good," I returned before attempting to turn my focus to Isaac. "Where do you want me to go now? Have you found some new hideout you'd like to stash me this time?"

"Not exactly. And frankly, I am tired of chasing your ass."

"No one asked you to chase me."

He snorted. "You gave me little choice. Every time I turn around, your dragon is throwing a bitch hissy fit. And since you still can't keep that beast under control, you've left me no other options."

"I can," Rose spoke up, smug satisfaction on her face.

"Oh, hell no. If you think I'm going to let you poison me again, think again. It's never going to happen."

She crossed her arms over her chest and some of the glee slipped from her face. "I liked you a lot better when your dragon wasn't around. He apparently turns you into an arsehole."

Isaac barked and Kitra's mouth dropped open before it was quickly taken over by a smile. "Oh, I like her," Isaac said. "She's already got you figured out."

I flipped my finger up at him in the crude human way instead of vocalizing my exact thoughts. Rose and Kitra probably didn't deserve to hear the words I liked to reserve for my bastard brother.

"Classy," he said. "Guess you don't care about making a good impression on your mate. Or is that not what's got your panties in this twist?"

I growled, advancing on him. "I don't need the dragon to kick your ass."

"Okay, boys. That's enough," Kitra interrupted. "Why don't we save the bluster for later and tell Magnus why we're really here?"

"So there is a point to the two of you traveling all the way out here besides harassing me?"

"Look, motherfucker, we wouldn't have to do shit with you if you had an ounce of control when it came to that monster of yours. Frankly, I'm tired of cleaning up your messes and trying to hide the bodies. If you don't want to stay out here and play nice with the human girl, then I'm going to find a nice dungeon for you."

Rose gasped and I cringed.

I wasn't proud of the things I'd done. But the years of pent-up anger inside the dragon were not easy to control. Even now, my chest burned with it, and the damned beast was practically asleep again. I didn't know whether the effects of the poison were still wearing off or he'd chosen to settle and give back some control.

Either way, I wasn't about to question it. It had been too long since I'd felt this alive. Or this—something. Which meant I wasn't going to dwell on what the dragon did. It was part of this temporary life. Just because the humans didn't understand the true nature of our kind because they didn't know they existed did not mean I had to suddenly live by their ideals.

Screw that.

"Anyways," Kitra interrupted again. "We've got news you need to hear."

I turned my attention to her and did my best to ignore the way Rose seemed to perk up and move closer to my side. I'd known sleeping with her last night had the potential for blowing up my world, but I didn't realize it would be this difficult to hold it together in the light of day.

I wanted her. More than breath. And that need burned through every cell in my body. What I didn't understand was how the dragon didn't feel it. What the hell was wrong with him?

Mate . I whispered to him, hoping to get a reaction. I waited several seconds until I realized he truly didn't care. Either that poison had done a number on him, or the remnants of my uncle's long-term spell still had him in thrall. Nothing got to him.

Which only reminded me that Rose would be better off without us. Look what we'd done to her house. I would have to see about getting this mess fixed up for her. How, I wasn't quite sure. Back in my uncle's kingdom I had an entire force of guards at my disposal ready to do my bidding. Here, not so much.

"Magnus, did you hear what I said?" I looked up at Kitra, my mind suddenly as blank as my expression. No, I had not heard anything.

"Sorry. I was thinking of something else."

She sighed. "I said, I've found a way for you to go home. If that's what you still want."

My heart and stomach lurched at the same time my dragon roared to the surface. He didn't force a change, but I could feel him pushing at my skin enough to know there were facets they would all see. Scales rippling on my skin, muscles bulging where they wanted to grow, and my eyes would be bright with the fire I could feel burning in them.

I made the unfortunate mistake of turning to look at Rose when her breath caught, and the fear as she stumbled back several steps churned like acid in my stomach.

Angrier than ever I focused on Kitra as best I could. "How? I thought you said it couldn't be done. The portal is closed."

"It won't be easy. But I've written a spell."

"What kind of spell?" Rose asked.

I liked that about her. She was whip smart and her innate curiosity had all the markers of a strong and capable fae.

My body stilled. Was it there the whole time and I'd failed to realize?

Fuck. This was getting more and more complicated by the second.

"A difficult one, I'm afraid. I'm going to have to find some rare ingredients to pull it off. But I think if we hurry and can be ready by the full moon, we can get this done."

Rose smiled, and her entire demeanor changed. It was enough to take my breath away.

"Good thing you've ended up in my house, then. I am all about rare ingredients. The harder to find the better. I mean, what fun would life be if it was easy all the time? Am I right?"

Isaac scoffed. "I could go for some easy right about now."

"What do you need?" I asked, almost certain I wasn't going to like the answer. Rose might see this new development as a challenge, but when it came to the fae, I knew there would be nothing easy about any of this.

My luck, they'd need some sort of sacrifice or my left testicle. Neither of which I was willing to give.

"First, I'm going to need some dreamroot, faewort, and?—"

"Wait. Let me get a pad of paper and pen so you don't have to keep repeating yourself. I tend to have the memory of a gnat when I get nervous, and if this doesn't qualify then I don't know what does." Rose ran from the room like her mission to find these ingredients might be the most important of her life. Why that seemed to rub my scales in the wrong direction, I couldn't say.

"I'll go with her. If she's serious and can help that's going to save us a lot of time and trouble. Will the two of you play nice if I leave you alone?"

I didn't bother to dignify Kitra's question with an answer. I hated to tell her, but I didn't think there was a nice bone in either of our bodies. If we were all lucky, no one would get killed and that would have to do.

"Go. We'll be fine," Isaac sighed and waved her off, but not before she leaned in, and he bent down to press his lips to hers. It was nothing more than a chaste kiss goodbye and I still wanted to hurl.

The minute Kitra disappeared and the sounds of her and Rose talking to each other had faded into the other side of the house, Isaac clapped me on the back.

"Touch me again and you won't have anything left of that limb to wrap around your mate."

"At least I don't deny I have one."

I bristled. I wasn't about to split hairs with him over the difference of opinion between me and the eternally pissed off dragon that refused to listen to reason. Last night I'd been still partially impaired and yet I'd known something more was off and chose to deny it. The desire flowing between Rose and I had been too intense. It was more than two beings coming together for pleasure...

"Maybe you should shut your mouth," I warned.

"She's cute."

I jerked around and found smoke coming out of my mouth when I tried to yell at him.

"Easy. I think you've done enough damage for one day."

"You shouldn't have come here." I pushed out the words, but most of them came out on a fire-laced roar that caught the bottom of her curtains on fire.

"Fuck. Enough asshole." Isaac rushed to the window and patted at the flames until they went out. "Burning down her house isn't going to help matters. You've already got more shit coming down than she can handle."

"I've got good news and bad ne— What happened?" Kitra whisper yelled when she looked up to find Isaac frantically batting at the now charred curtains.

"What do you think happened? Dragon asshole number one and his shitty attitude."

"And least he acknowledges I'm number one."

She whipped around to me. "Could you just stop for two damned seconds and think about someone other than yourself? This is ridiculous. Hell, it's so beyond ridiculous I don't even know what to call it anymore."

"Insanity," Isaac offered, stepping up to her side.

"Not helping," she hissed.

I blinked in surprise as some of the red haze of rage disappeared from my vision. Whoa . Apparently, the dragon suddenly found them amusing. "You have good news and bad news?" I didn't like the sound of that, and looking over her shoulder. "Where is Rose?"

"In her bedroom crying."

"What?" My head swiveled as a fresh wave of red-hot rage flooded through me. "What did you do to her?"

"Me?" She kicked out her leg and slammed her tiny fae foot into my shin. " I didn't do anything. One minute we were gathering up ingredients from the debris of her greenhouse and the next she was on her knees howling about some piece of furniture. I mean I don't get it. You tore the entire backside of her house open, but she's freaking out about a couch? I couldn't even console her. She said we all had to get out."

In that moment the dragon chose to let me in, and my senses flooded me with everything Rose in the cottage. But it was the anguish coming from the human that nearly overwhelmed us both.

My heart skipped a beat, and I nearly fell to my knees.

Fuck. We were so screwed.