He moved to see me more squarely. Are you okay?
I’m hungry.
But it was more.
If our creatures were mates, or we were mates, I didn’t know. I didn’t care at this point. I needed him.
He blinked, understanding there. Trust me, okay?
I closed my eyes. Yes.
A muffled scream came from someone just as I felt more of his hot breath, then his teeth were nudging at my restraints. They came undone. I think one melted under his fire, which only teased at my skin, before I felt his teeth moving over me.
He was scraping me gently.
What are you doing?
Testing your injuries.
“What are you doing to her?”
Kieran ignored them, continuing with my restraints.
He freed my legs.
He was moving to my arm when Nikki yelled, “Hey! I don’t care who you are, if you hurt her—”
Kieran whipped his head around, flames breathing out from his nostrils. You’ll do what?
I had enough energy to look more around, and I saw Nikki shrink backwards.
I knew his voice had gotten inside her head.
“Nik,” I whispered.
Her large eyes moved to mine. I saw her standing in a cage. Where the cage came from, I hadn’t a clue, but she fell down seeing me seeing her. Her hands were wrapped tightly around the bars.
“I’m okay.”
He freed my second arm, and he opened his giant mouth over me.
“He's going to eat you,” she whispered back.
“No.”
His jaws closed over me, but he only lifted me from the table.
I was secure in his mouth. Nothing was hurting anymore.
I was tuned into him and Rakon. Both were worried about me.
He was about to lift off again.
I said to Nikki right before he did, “Trust me. I’ll be back.”
He sprang up, and we were soaring. Going higher and higher.
I was flying.
19
Yes
When I woke, I was warm all over, and I felt like I was levitating. I wasn’t. I moved around, and I felt blankets underneath me, but that was the feeling in my body. I felt ‘light’ all over.
In a flash, the night came back to me.
The post-Halloween party.
Uncle Cream.
Going into the kitchen.
Jay and her.
Quesadilla.
Quesadilla’s fangs.
Blood.
Nothing.
Waking, feeling lower than absolute shit.
Threats.
Grossness.
More Quesadilla’s fangs.
And then, Kieran.
So much Kieran.
All hot and sexy things Kieran.
I felt a rumble inside of me and instantly thought, Sorry, Rakon.
I amended my earlier memories to: Rakon, Rakon, Rakon.
Better.
I felt him leaving again, feeling happy.
I bolted upright, my heart pounding.
I just felt Rakon’s emotions.
Rakon’s.
I only got glimpses of Kieran’s emotions before, but not Rakon’s and not this strong. Everything was more, all more.
I felt the bed beneath me.
I felt the air around me.
I felt the particles in the air.
I could hear a buzzing in the air and looked out a window. I was hearing the electrical wires, a mile away. I was seeing the wires, a mile away. Through trees, down a hill.
I knew it all and felt it all, and I was having a heart attack.
What was happening to me?
“You merged with your creature last night.”
Kieran was leaning against the doorframe, regarding me.
I had no clue what that meant.
One side of his mouth curved up. He straightened from the doorframe and began to move toward me. “That means you’re not separated anymore. You’re a complete energist.” He sat on the edge of the bed.
It dipped underneath him and those dark eyes were assessing me.
He asked, “How do you feel?”
“I feel good.”
I moved, and nope. There was an ache there, a big ache.
I groaned, and Kieran grinned again. “You were saying?”
I moved back, sighing. “I’m hurting. Never mind.”
“Your body went through a trauma last night and you merged. I’d imagine you’ll feel sore for a day.”
“Only a day?”
He nodded, his gaze sweeping over me. “A day. At least. You fed a little on me last night, enough to start the merge, but not enough to fill you.”
“Oh.”
I didn’t remember feeding.
“You were exhausted. I made you eat a little before you fell asleep.”
I was disappointed. I’d been looking forward to eating him.
His gaze lifted, then falling to my mouth. “That’s the plan for today.”
Right.
He could hear me. I kept forgetting.
“You choose to forget.”
Right on that too.
He smirked.
Right. Again.
“Sorry.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s entertaining.”
“So, you and Rakon, huh?”
A faint smile from him. “Once Rakon felt you were hurting, there was no stopping him. He rose on his own, and he never does that.”
Mate.
We both heard him and shared a smile.
“There’s that, huh?”
His eyes met mine, staying. Growing somber. “Right.”
A pressure was building inside of me.
I felt like I was going to burst, so I did what every normal person would do.
I changed the subject. “Where does Rakon usually stay?”
It was a question every supernatural being knew about because dragons were the top of the chain. It was also known that there was an under-universe, like the flipside of our surface of another world. Dragons lived there. I thought it’d all been a fantasy story, until I found out Kieran existed.
“Do other dragons live there?”
He nodded. “Rakon’s the only one that’s merged with a sire.”
It was another reminder how ancient, and how powerful Kieran was.
I’d never felt smaller.
He grinned, but taunted me. Scared?
I laughed, my voice hitching on an uncomfortable note. Maybe.
I don’t blame you. It’s taken me a bit to admit it myself.
“Really?” My lips parted in surprise.
He nodded, his gaze returning to my mouth. “I felt it. As soon as I felt your energy in the area, I knew who you were to me. Then you came to me, and I found out you were sent by Quessadiline, and I was furious. I wasn’t accepting you, what you were to me, and you didn’t seem to know yourself.”
I remembered that first night in the blue velvet room. “Uh, I felt something that
