Claws and Kisses

“You stupid, stupid mortal.” Bear shook her head and paced the cell, throwing her hands in the air. “Do you think Avel is so helpless as to need a human making magic deals to protect him?”

I swiped at my cheeks, breathing in shakily. “I know Avel is not helpless. Bora told me to find the advantage. I thought Aamon . . .”

Bear stopped to pop her hands on her hips and glare at me. “You didn’t stop to think that maybe she was talking about your mating? The actual bond you needed to make to protect Avel and yourself?”

I shrugged against the wall, defensive. “I just wanted Avel to stay alive. He’s my mate, and he refuses to drop this stupid Drachen Trials idea. I thought, at least with someone with real power to watch over him . . .” I dropped my shoulders, at loss for words. “I don’t know. I was just . . . trying to keep my mate.”

She stared at me, her chest heaving as she breathed fast. I studied her movements, waiting for her to leave or continue yelling at me. Yet, the Drachen-Fae hybrid just pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh of frustration. “Alright, alright! Stop looking at me with those puppy dog eyes. I get it. You’re stupid and you’re in love. Fine. Just . . . let me think.”

She turned away from me, her heels tapping repeatedly against the floor as she paced and muttered to herself. I watched silently, relieved she was not intent on ripping me a new one for my mistake. After a moment of consideration, she stated, “I need to tell Avel. Right now. And the Inner Circle. We can figure out what to do with you and the boy afterwards.”

I launched to my feet, throwing my hands out. “No! You can’t tell Avel.”

The she-dragon glanced over her shoulder at me, her brow cocked. “Oh? Pray tell, dear Wendy. Why the hell would I not tell my lord about this?”

“I . . .” I licked my lips, nervous. “If you tell him, he’ll kill Aamon for sure to break the Blood Oath. Then Aamon won’t be able to uphold his end of the deal and protect Avel during the trials.”

“Uh huh.” Bear approached me slowly, arms crossed in intimidation. “So, you still think that Aamon is somehow going to survive his public trial with the Drachen Court, go to the Drachen Trials, and watch over the very man that is trying to kill him?”

Swallowing hard, I pressed my lips together, hating how it sounded when she said it like that.

“Right. Okay.” She twisted away from me, heading to the wall. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait!” I scrambled to reach her, but she was already half gone in that mist before I could catch her. “Bear! Don’t tell—”

***

“So why have we not told Avel about this?” Seth asked, the young boy purposefully not looking at me.

Bear had taken me back to my room, where Bruce, Romeo, Seth, and Elora waited. All of them were unusually aggressive. Irritated. I knew it was because Avel was projecting, but it still stung when they glared or scowled my way. Even after Bear had filled them in on how I had not cheated on Avel, they still could not find the will to treat me as an equal. As more than a stupid, unfaithful mortal.

It was unnerving, to say the least. Especially Seth, who I had come to think of as a little brother. He could barely spare me a glance, let alone forgiveness.

“The human is worried about Avel killing Aamon, breaking the deal.” She said, taking a drag from the cigar wedged between her fingertips from her seat by the fire.

All eyes turned to me. I shrunk under their gazes, but did not refute Bear’s claims. Avel could not know about this deal.

Bruce scoffed, while Elora just glared at the floor. Romeo stretched in his seat. Out of all of the Inner Circle, besides Bear, Romeo was—surprisingly—being the most kind to me. He had not scowled once, and that was enough to have me wanting to hug him in thanks.

Romeo’s eyebrows scrunched as he looked back and forth between Bear and I. “Did you two not hear?”

My head snapped up, alert. “Hear what?”

Romeo bit his cheek. “Avel can’t kill the warlock.” Leaning back, he palmed Bear’s cigar and placed it between his own lips. A puff of smoke escaped his lips as he said, “He’s gone. Escaped not an hour ago.”

Bear shook her head in disbelief. “Escape? No one escapes Avel’s dungeons.”

Shrugging, Romeo handed the cigar back. “From what I’ve gathered, the warlock is unimaginably powerful. He had the guards chasing butterflies, and the wards could only tamper his power for so long. He was out in no time.”

I carefully arranged my face, not allowing any emotions to show. However, as horrible as it was, a small part of me was quietly sighing in relief. If Aamon was out there, he would be back for the Drachen Trials. He would protect Avel, whether he wanted to or not. And then, afterwards . . .

Elora used a dagger to clean her nails, clicking her tongue in distaste. “Are we sure that the mortal had nothing to do with Aamon’s impromptu escape?”

My jaw dropped a little. I stared, wide-eyed, at Elora. The sweetest, most compassionate badass dragon I knew. I could hardly believe she had accused me of helping in Aamon’s escape. After everything we had been through together, the last thing I expected was the heartbroken, betrayed gleam in her eyes.

Bear saved me from saying something I would regret later by quickly murmuring, “You know as well as I do that Wendy was in the dungeons, Elora. Get a hold of yourself.”

In a very non-typical fashion, Elora stood from her seat and growled. She kicked away her chair and made for the door, not bothering to look back as she hotly replied. “I can’t . . .” She muttered something under her breath, before saying, “I have to go punch something. Hard.”

She left. Gone before anyone could say anything.

I stared after her, cocking my head and studying the spot where she had not been moments ago. Bear rubbed her chest, swallowing. “Don’t worry, mortal. Elora is not herself. She is just feeling what the rest of us are trying not to.”

Sighing, I nodded. All five of us were silent for a moment before I quietly asked, “So what are we going to do?”

Romeo opened his mouth to respond, but his lips quickly snapped shut as all of the Inner Circle’s eyes glazed over. Someone must have been contacting them through their Drachen Bonds. I watched, entranced, as they all stared blankly into space, listening to a silent voice.

It took three minutes for whatever conversation they were all having to come to a close. In that time, I had gotten up and went to stand near the fire with Bear. She blinked in surprise when she finally saw me, but said nothing of it.

I turned to the others. “What is it?”

Bruce was out the door in a matter of seconds, completely ignoring me. Seth followed after him, only sparing me a side-eyed glare before exiting. Romeo hung back, his eyes meeting Bear’s for a split second before flickering to mine. “Don’t fret, kid. I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”

I rolled my eyes at him, twisting to face Bear, who was silently puffing her cigar. With spread hands, I asked, “Bear?”

“New orders, sweetheart.” She chucked her cigar into the fire, standing slowly. She nodded at Romeo, and they began to stride to my bedroom door. Apparently done with me.

“Wait,” I called out, following close behind the pair. They were walking ridiculously fast, and I hated that they probably did it on purpose just to annoy me. “Where are you—”

Romeo opened the doorway, and instead of an empty hallway, there was a dragon. Tall, broad-shouldered, with midnight blue hair and bright, glowing purple eyes. I stopped short when I saw him, and barely drew in breath as Romeo and Bear skittered past him.

Before Bear had made it all the way, he stopped her with a hand to the arm. She looked up slowly, and did not flinch when she saw the steel in her gaze. They stared like that for a moment more before he released her.

“We will talk later,” was all he said.

The pair vanished. I was left standing in the doorway, scrutinizing Avel. My mate. I waited for him to scream at me. I waited for him to take my throat between his hands and throttle me. I waited for him to curse my name and banish me to the darkest pits of hell. I waited for him to get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness. I waited for him to do anything besides stand there, face wiped clean of emotion.

The only thing I could think to say was, “Please don’t punish Bear. For letting me out. It was my fault, not hers.”

His violet, heart-achingly intense gaze was trained entirely on me. My face. My body. His eyes ran down every inch of my skin, taking all of me in, until I was laid bare before him. His all-knowing, stoic orbs bypassed my flesh and stared straight through into my soul. To the most vulnerable, naked parts of myself. In the end, only a small, impossibly soft chuckle rumbled through him.

“Of course you would think of someone else,” he murmured. His eyes flicked back to mine. “May I come in?”

I stood in the threshold, breathing faster than normal and clenching my hands into fists. I could not help running a careful eye over the dark blue bags under his eyes. The way his shoulders hung in a terse, tense fashion. The creases in his forehead seemed to appear deeper than before. Despite his partial immortality, it looked as if he had aged ten years in the last two days.

Biting my lip, I forced my gaze away from him and pushed off the door, knowing he would just barrel in if I refused him access. I gingerly stepped to the side, and watched as he proceeded to the fire, where I had stood just a minute ago. He kept his back to me. Exposing himself. If I wished to plunge a knife between his shoulder blades, I could have.

Not that I had the blade to do it.

I did not sit, but remained standing as he did. I leaned against the wall opposite him, keeping a trained eye on him. Not once looking away. I barely blinked for fear of losing sight of the Dragon Lord.

“Bear told me what happened.”

I watched him breathe in out deeply, his shoulders shifting with the movement. I had watched those same shoulders turn their back on me and walk away a mere day ago, after accusing me of acting in disloyalty and leaving me to rot in a cell.

I remained silent.

He kept his gaze to the fire. His back to me. Whereas before I only recognized the beauty of his strength, the power in his wide stance, now I could only see the muscles in his arms. How they had bulged when he had shoved me against the wall, throttling me. I could only see the pain he had caused me. The hurt he had bestowed upon me as easily as a king would his crown.

The irony of it all was that I was no victim. Even though he had done wrong by me in accusing without ample evidence, I had betrayed him in a way. Neither of us were innocent. But am I wrong to wonder who is more guilty of the two?

“We have to talk, little tiger.” He faced me, violet eyes hooded. “And I have a feeling it’s going to take awhile.”

And there's your Saturday update! Another one done and uploaded on time. What a great way to end the day--

What? It's not Saturday?

It's Wednesday? What the hell?! Why did none of you tell me?

It's been over a week since the last update? Golly, who's running this show?

Oh, right. It's me. *Sighs*

Hello, loves. Yes, I know, I'm horrible. If any of you guys write, I'm sure from time to time you're hit with really, really bad writer's block. I have more or less been writing and updating twice a week for the last six months, and I think my fingers finally dropped dead on my keyboard. The good news is, I'm back!

I think.

I'm still kind of trying to get back on my feet, and get this story back on the road. There still so much of the plot we have to get through, and I'm worried I'm going to end up writing it all hasty and sloppy just to get through all of it and still keep it under, like, 1000 pages. But like who knows, right?

In other news, I could not stop myself from writing the first few chapters of the second book (yay!). I am so excited for when we get to see what's coming up next after CAK, and I hope you all are too. Plus, if you have gotten somewhat attached to Wendy and Avel, have no fear! CAK is not the last you will see of them ;)

Alright, that's all for today folks. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and are excited for the next few!

~Elaine