No.
I must.
No.
I MUST.
His dragon was plotting a move against Kurt when an angelic voice came over the speaker system singing a lullaby. It was a siren song. The dragon was mostly immune, but it still took the fire out of him.
Pretty song, Wrath said.
His dragon circled slowly toward Kurt.
Dragon: Dumbo. Remember? Jacob loved it.
Jacob was another of Wrath’s descendants.
Wrath: That’s right. He was such a cute kid.
Kurt moved, but the dragon didn’t follow.
Dragon: Jacob’s strong now. Like us.
Wrath: That he is.
Wrath had his dragon so calm it didn’t notice Etel walking up with a mixed blood fae until they were ten feet away.
The fae spoke in Sumerian, magic permeating every word. “Ezzu, brother of my brother, I am Namtar. You will listen and you will obey.”
Namtar was Etel’s half-brother on his mother’s side. He was half mage, half fae. Wrath had never met him.
Against his will, Wrath’s dragon replied in kind to the fae prince, “I will listen, and I will obey.”
The dragon part of him was trying to fight it, but the human side was on board.
Wrath: If we obey, maybe we won’t kill our family to get to one human.
Dragon: She’s not human.
Wrath: Whatever. You don’t want to kill Iris and Lily.
“Recite the words that sent you into this madness,” Namtar said. “The words that drive you, they were spoken long ago. Reach back in your hidden memories and then tell them to me.”
Wrath’s dragon responded in Egyptian. “Zahra is your mate, your only mate. Dragon, you will be confused. You will not be able to tell if a woman is your true mate. If you bind yourself to another woman, she must die. Only Zahra is your mate for as long as you live.”
“Dragon,” Namtar said, “Zahra is not your mate. She is dead. You will know your true mate, male, female, or otherwise. You are bound to a woman now. It is a cause for celebration. You will not kill her. You don’t want to. You will care for her, cherish her, protect her as a dragon should. Zahra was your mate, but she is gone. Zahra is not your mate.”
Wrath changed back into human form, as did Kurt who was standing behind Etel.
“Oh look, another dick. I really wish you guys could keep your clothes when you change,” Namtar said. “Promise you won’t kill your mate?”
“Promise. Thank you,” Wrath said.
“Good. Not that this isn’t fun, but I have an alien fae to interrogate,” Namtar said. He nodded to Etel, “You will pay me back for this, brother.”
“I know,” Etel said.
Namtar slapped Etel on the back, waved his hand to make a portal, and then disappeared.
“Alien fae?” Kurt asked.
“Let’s get dressed. I’d rather apologize to my mate with pants on,” Wrath said.
“You burned my clothes,” Kurt said.
Wrath shrugged and led his brothers into the house. He went to the bedroom and got out three pairs of jeans. He put one pair on and tossed two pairs in the general direction of the living room. He was looking for shirts when he heard the front door open and then Jess’s voice.
He went out to meet her.
“Good lord,” she said. “It’s a room full of beefcake. You boys should make a charity calendar where you’re shirtless and holding kittens.”
Mine. My treasure. Mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.
“Kurt, introduce Etel to his niece. I need to talk to Jess,” Wrath said.
“I need a shirt,” Etel said.
“Get a jacket from the closet on your way out.”
Wrath already had Jess’s hand and he was leading her to the basement. He could sense the magic growing within her. He sensed her dragon.
“Remember how I said we’d give this a try, and you could leave if you wanted?” Wrath said.
“Yeah,” Jess said.
“That deal is over. You’re mine.”
“What? What happened, Wrath? You were trying to kill us. You could have killed Kurt,” she said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
Wrath turned to face her. “I’m sorry. My mate was an imp, a type of fae, and she cursed me. My dragon was trying to hurt you, Jess. Zahra knew she wasn’t my true mate, and she didn’t want me to find anyone else.”
“Oh,” she said.
The pain in her eyes made Wrath’s dragon grumble within him. Protect mate. Always.
“Namtar lifted the curse, and my dragon is sane again. You know I wouldn’t hurt you willingly. My dragon has claimed you. I heard it in my head—you’re my treasure.”
“So, that’s it? You’re fixed and we get a happily ever after? Wrath, you were attracted to me because I look like your dead mate. We can still try, but this isn’t exactly the perfect love story.”
Wrath shook his head. Females could make things so much more complicated than they had to be. He wasn’t sure he’d ever fully understand them.
“Who wants perfect?” he asked. “Who’s happy forever? Without flaws there’s nothing to strive to improve, nothing to work for. Without unhappy times we can’t appreciate the happy ones. As for you looking like Zahra, she was my type. A lot of women I’ve been with look like you, but none of them were you. I cared for her deeply, but my dragon chose you, not her. I chose you.”
“Why? We’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“You don’t want to leave Jess. Listen to that voice in your head. It’s telling you that I’m yours and it’s right.”
He led her over to the gym equipment. “Stay here. I have to do something.”
She sat on the weight bench, looking a little shell shocked. Wrath went to the other side of the cavernous space and changed into dragon form. He sent out a stream of fire to open the first door and then went down the tunnel to the vault door, opening it before changing into human form.
“Jess? I want you to see this,” he called.
~
How did Wrath know about the voice in her head? There was so much she didn’t understand about Wrath and his
