Claws and Kisses

“I am so not cool with this,” I hissed, gripping Avel’s sleeve while simultaneously glaring at Jericho, who was standing with Rhett, talking quietly from across the room.

After Ave’s brother had dropped the news about my brother, Avel had the sense of mind to excuse us for a moment. He had deposited me in the corner of the room, shielding my fiery gaze from Jericho with his large frame. He now stood in front of me with the carelessness of a person who literally gave zero fucks about what was happening. It irritated me greatly that he wasn’t as confused and upset as I was.

“What does he mean, mate? Rhett isn’t even a dragon. I thought only dragons could mate with dragons. And I know for a fact that Rhett is one hundred and fifty percent human.”

Avel casually leaned against the wall, his eyes running up and down my body with a new kind of heat. “Foolish, little tiger.” He shook his head, his eyes once more returning to my face. “Dragons can have human mates. It’s just less common than dragon mates.”

The way he said mates had my skin tingling. And the way he was staring at me with those big, violet orbs . . . I cough ed awkwardly, glancing away. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Rhett doesn’t even like, uh, the same—the same people. As him. Like, um . . .”

Avel’s eyes lit up with cruel amusement. “What’s that, Wendy?”

“I know he doesn’t . . .” My cheeks flared, and I found it hard to speak through the turmoil gripping my body. “He’s always liked girls, and Jericho is—he’s just not, well . . . It’s fine if he was, but he just isn’t. I know that, okay?”

The Dragon Lord rested cool eyes on me. “The gods would not have created their Soul Bond if it was not meant to be.” His attention drifted to the pair across the room, narrowing on my twin. “It seems your brother has kept his fair share of secrets from you, too.”

For some reason, those words sent a wave of sadness through me. I felt as if I was seeing my brother for the first time. Did he not think that I would accept him? Did he think that I would shame him for his feelings, for the way his heart beats? Never before had I doubted the brevity of our relationship; we had always been a team, a pact. Yet, just as I had not told him about Avel when we were kids, I guess he also felt the need to hide this bit of truth from me as well.

“What does this mean?” I whispered, half-hoping that there had been some mistake made. Rhett had become my entire world when we had left our village all those years ago. We had made plans to travel the world and go on wild, daring adventures. We were to live our lives freely and with out entire beings. But now, if he was tethered to someone . . .

“Most likely, he will proceed with the rest of the mating ritual and be publicly claimed by Jericho.” Avel’s words were weightless, light as a breeze.

I turned back to Avel, distraught and confused all at once. “Mating ritual? Publicly claimed? What the hell does that mean?”

Avel’s entire being focused on me then. The intensity of his gaze was all-consuming, and I felt frozen on the spot. He was looking at me the way one looked at a mountain they were planning to climb. “The mating ritual is a long and complicated process. Jericho has already branded your brother, beginning the transaction between soul-bounded partners. They will have to take many steps to complete the ritual.”

Swallowing hard, I felt the heat of his gaze travel from my face to my neck, his attention fixating there. Right where Rhett’s brand of ownership was. Ave’s stare was purposeful, and I felt myself shrink away from his loaded looks.

“Ah . . . is there no way to reverse it?” The question was innocent, but I was desperate for him to answer and change the subject.

He crossed his arms, lifting his brow in a knowing manner. “No, little tiger. There is no way to ‘reverse’ the soul bond.”

I cleared my throat. “Right. Okay.”

Avel watched me for another moment or so before jerking his head at my brother. “Go. Talk to the human. I have matters of business to discuss with Jericho.” I obliged him immediately, grateful to get some air. I had only made it a step forward before he was catching me by the back of my collar, halting any movements on my part.

Peering back at him sheepishly, I said, “Yes?”

He didn’t blink. “I would just like to remind you that you are in a room with two sibling Dragon Lords. If you run, I promise you will not get very far.”

If it was possible, my face burned an ever brighter shade of red. How could he have possibly known I was maybe thinking of doing that? It was embarrassing to think that he could simply navigate my intentions without even needing to ask me. So I only ducked my head, nodding once, before being released and scurrying over to where Rhett stood.

Jericho and my brother stood close, near the open ledge of the room. Rhett looked like he wanted nothing more than to pivot on his heel and bolt, but thought better of it. Jericho had a smooth, easy smile on his face. It was the smile of someone who knew they were in absolute control.

Avel thankfully called Jericho away. He left with a whispered word into Rhett’s ear and another smile my way. I was thankful when he left, and immediately rushed to my brother to hug him tightly.

“Oh, Rhett,” I cried, squeezing him with all my might. “I missed you so much! What the hell happened?”

I hadn’t seen him in over a week. Not since the whole Valentina fiasco. That was more time we had spent apart in all our life. We had never, ever been that far from one another. But now . . .

Pulling back slightly, I scrutinized his features. There were dark, purple bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. The lines of his face were more defined, as if he had not been able to relax in the last week since I had seen him. His emerald green eyes—so similar to my own—were half-hooded and grim. He looked like absolute hell.

Then there was the brand. It was intricately carved into his skin. A lavish display of ownership, a network of ink and beauty that signified to the world that he was no longer just Rhett. No, now he was the mate to a Dragon Lord. A plaything. A slave.

Anger like no other burned bright from within me. I clasped his shoulder, searching his eyes for some kind of truth. “Did Jericho do this? Did he . . .”

My twin looked so damn tired. He clasped my shoulder back, squeezing hard. “Wendy,” he said, his voice slightly raspy. “You gotta get out of here.”

I blinked, bewildered. “What happened, Rhett?"

His eyes flickered once to where the Dragon Lords stood, talking to each other in hushed voices. Hate shone in his eyes when they landed on Jericho, but he quickly pushed the feeling away, turning back to me.

“After they took you away that day . . . I woke up in that bed. Everything was burned but not me. Valentina was gone. Most of the chains had been undone at that point so I just slipped out of them and ran. But—” he stuttered, cutting himself on. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before saying, “Jericho ran into me. I was half-delirious, screaming your name and stumbling around the damn complex hoping to find you. I don’t know the specifics of how these dragon mating things work, but he apparently felt the Soul Bond right away and took me back to his rooms.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t explain why you look like shit. What did he . . .”

Rhett’s eyes were still closed, but it was impossible to miss the single tear that slid from his eyes. It ran down his face, caressing his jaw before tumbling to the ground. He quickly wiped the remnants of the tear away, still not able to look at me. “It doesn’t matter what happened, Dee. We just need to get you the hell out of here before Avel locks you away too.”

The mention of Avel had a blush staining my face, but I quickly reared on him, grabbing his arm once more to gain his attention. Watery green eyes blinked up at me, broken and on the verge of collapse. I shook him, a little desperate. “Don’t try to change the subject on me. It does matter what happened. I need you to tell me so that I can help you.”

He shook his head, already turning away. “Dee, please, just drop it—”

“I’m not dropping this!” I half-shouted, half-whispered furiously.

Despite my best efforts to remain calm, I still felt the heat of Avel’s stare from across the room. I peered back once at him to see him with his head cocked, looking ready to come over here and see what was going on. Pasting a faux smile on my face, I quickly waved him away and prayed to the dragon gods that he would not intervene.

A moment or two passed, but he did not approach. Even though his attention was still rooted on me, I thanked the heavens that he had stayed put. I turned back to Rhett with a inscrutable glare. “You think that you can just walk in here, looking like that, and for me to just blow over it? You and I both know that that isn’t how I work.”

Despite the very real threat in my tone, Rhett did not respond. He looked on the verge of a breakdown. It tore my heart to see him without his usual smile. His contented ease.

“Rhett,” I dropped the tough act and decided to switch tactics. Staring up at him, I let him see the full extent of my worry and despair. The same was reflected in his orbs. “Rhett, please. I . . . I need to know what happened. I can’t—I won’t be able to think straight, knowing something horrible was done to you. Just please tell me so that I can fix you. I just . . . please? Please tell me how to fix you.”

Another tear slid down his face. “Dee,” he whispered, his voice cracked and a mere husk of the deep, playful tone I was familiar with. “Dee, it was bad. It was really, really bad. I don’t want you to,” he struggled to find the right words, shaking slightly. “To think less of me. Because of all this.”

My brows furrowed and hugged him again, trying by will alone to lend him all of my strength. “Less?” I questioned truthfully. “How could I ever think less of you?”

“You don’t get it,” he sobbed quietly, his whole body quivering now with tension. “The things he did to me. The things I couldn’t stop him from doing to me . . .”

His words had an ugly, awful feeling sprouting in my chest. The way he was talking . . . “Rhett, it’s okay. Just tell me what’s going on. We can move forward from there.”

He was already shaking his head. “Gods, Dee. You wouldn’t believe me.” He turned to me with pleading eyes, looking so utterly distraught that I had to stop myself from sobbing along with him. “They may look human, but they’re not. His private rooms are insane, Dee. He’s got these cages and weapons and other tools that I don’t know how to describe. Out here, he’s all smiles and easy talk but in there, behind shut doors . . .” He clenched his fists, breathing hard. “He’s a maniac, Dee. There’s no escaping him. Every damn time I try to resist, he just tightens the leash. Punishes me in ways that I could have never thought imaginable . . . All he thinks about is control. They got this strange, twisted sense of dominance. He can’t take it when I try to resist him. If you knew the way he acts, they way he touches—”

My brother abruptly cut off. His eyes were fastened to something behind me. I turned to see Jericho and Avel walking towards us. The former smiled and clapped his hands. “I think that’s enough social time for today. Besides, we have things to discuss.”

Avel motioned me to him, and I stubbornly held out a second or two before eventually slinking my way towards him. He placed me directly in front of him, only a hair’s breadth away from his skin.

Jericho’s gaze slid to Rhett, a wild spark there. “Big things.”

So . . . that was horrible.

I got so damn emotional writing this scene. I feel like in so many stories, there are these characters that are emotionally and sexually abused over and over again, and the writer just kind of glosses over the after effects of someone going through that. I get angry whenever I read about a character who gets fucked over BIG TIME and then are literally totally okay in a matter of minutes. Real people don't bounce back like their experience was nothing.

I felt like I kind of also wanted to highlight the fact that Rhett didn't want to talk about it, even with Wendy. People who go through this shit can feel ashamed and less than they are, even if they did nothing wrong, and I wanted that displayed with Rhett and how he reacted.

On a MUCH lighter note, WOW. I know I literally talk about this in every A/N but hello to all the new readers! I will never stop being surprised by the amount of people who vote and follow and comment and simply give this book a chance. You guys are magic! Thank you so much for supporting me and my writing! I love hearing from you all and I sincerely hope you know that your comments/reviews/ votes/whatevers mean the world to me! So thank you very much :)

That's all for today folks. Hope you enjoyed.

(P.S. We're looking at a long weekend so more updates coming your way!)

(P.P.S. Your welcome ;)

~Elaine