Across the lot, Uziah stands amid a dozen vampires. They all watch me with a deadly stillness, waiting for his order.

  “Last chance to come willingly, son.”

  “I am not your son. And you will not have my blood oath. I would die first.”

  His eyes glitter with the gauntlet I’ve thrown down. “That’s my least favorite option, but it’s your choice.” He nods to his men, and they attack at once, vampire speed blurring their bodies so that every counter-move I make is on instinct alone.

  The power of gods and demons swims in my blood. The fury of my shadow beast is an unyielding madness as I give in to the hunger for blood—a hunger that apparently came from the male who sired me. A vampire god.

  With rage fueling me, my sword cuts through the inexperienced vampire soldiers like paper. Their screams ring out, cut short by their swift death. One by one, they fall, and with each one I bring down, the shadow beast inside me rages hotter and brighter.

  Bloodlust overtakes me until all I see is their blood to be spilled.

  I lose myself to the battle, my mind nothing more than an algorithm for battle plans, constantly re-adjusting itself to the flesh I’ve yet to carve. When I’m finished, silence rings out, a clang of victory that leaves me empty and alone in the parking lot now littered with dead vamps. Their hearts lie beside their broken bodies.

  I look down to find my sword clutched in a hand that’s half-man, half-dragon. Claws extend sharply from my scaly fingers, each one coated in blood. Black scales cover my arms, turning to flesh where my shoulder meets my chest.

  The adrenaline lacing my blood finally wanes as thoughts of my mate eclipse everything else. She’s vulnerable. Not safe. I can’t let her leave, no matter how much she wishes I would.

  I wipe my sword on my pants and sheath it then head for the road.

  “If I can’t have you, I’ll take her.”

  Uziah.

  He vanished during the fight. I whirl, looking for him, but he’s hidden himself well among the trees behind the club.

  “If you touch her, I’ll make you beg for death before I give it.”

  “You’ll come to me eventually, boy. One way or another. It’s your choice how hard you make this decision.”

  “Why don’t I come to you now?” I taunt. “Face me yourself. End this.”

  He doesn’t answer.

  Coward.

  I start toward the trees, determined to find him and end this once and for all, but then he speaks again. “My men will have caught her by now. Pledge yourself to me now, or it’ll be too late for her.”

  I stop.

  Panic replaces the cooling adrenaline in my veins, spurring me back toward the road. I shift as I run, clutching my sword in my teeth. The moment my wings appear, I take to the skies, racing after my mate. She can hate me all she wants as long as she’s alive to do it.

  Chapter 32

  Tori

  My eyes blur with tears so badly that I lose sight of the road. This cannot be happening. I’d just begun to let myself trust Legion, to think he was someone I might have a future with, and now all that trust is shattered. It hurts so much more than I want to admit, but there’s no turning it off. Hot tears continue to fall until I’m blinded by them. With a jerk of the wheel, I brake hard and pull off to the side of the road until I can regain control.

  Kendall is my priority now.

  I have to find us a safe place to go. Because I damn sure won’t be staying at the Keep. But there’s also nowhere else safe for us in either realm. Another wave of tears threatens as I realize how truly alone I am in all this. Without Legion…

  It’s only me against the entire force of the Crimson Roses.

  My bravado toward Uziah was just that. We both know he won’t stop coming for me. This was never about the female I accidentally killed outside that bar. It was about using me to get what he wanted. It’s almost refreshing to see that he’s dropped his act of pretending to care about me or look out for me. At least, all his cards are on the table now. Unfortunately, that card just so happens to be death.

  My spiraling thoughts are interrupted as something heavy bangs against the roof of the car. I shriek, flinching and trying to see what hit me. The car’s frame creaks as whatever it is moves off the car onto the pavement beside me.

  Through the window, I see a very large, very angry-looking vampire. A rose tattoo peeks out from beneath his shirt, wrapping around his thick neck. He stares me down for a long moment as my heart races and adrenaline pumps.

  With my hands in my lap, I pull my gloves off and prepare to do whatever I can to touch him without getting myself killed in the process.

  Slowly, heart pounding, I climb out of the car, knowing I have a better chance if I go on the offensive. If I drive off, he’ll just peel the car apart like a fucking onion. The vamp’s eyes gleam like his job just got a whole lot easier.

  “My touch is lethal,” I tell him, hoping the knowledge will at least slow him down.

  He snorts. “Mine is worse, bitch.”

  I force my expression to remain unmoved. “You sure you want to test it?”

  A blur of movement approaches, and a second later, three more vamps have joined the first.

  Fuck.

  My odds just went from bad to impossible.

  I reach for the door handle, prepared to get back in and make a run for it. If I can make it to the portal, maybe the guards will grant me asylum into Tartarus⁠—

  A loud wind rushes in, scattering leaves and whipping branches. Above, something dark blots out the light. A screech splits the air, and I know exactly what sort of monster is descending.

  Legion is a demon-eyed dragon wrapped in fury.

  He lands with chunks of lava leaking from his mouth, dripping onto the pavement where it melts the asphalt instantly.

  The vamps’ eyes widen.

  The larger one who arrived first hardens his expression and plants his feet. “Rip his throat out,” the vamp orders to the others. “We’ll see how easily he spits fire then.”

  The vamps attack quickly, each of them trying and failing to pierce Legion’s scales. The dragon’s tail swings out, knocking the men off their feet.

  The larger one turns away from them and stalks toward me.

  I reach for the car door, but he’s too fast, slamming it closed again and breathing against my ear. “You smell delicious, little fae. Let’s see how you taste.”

  With my bare palm, I reach for him, but he’s yanked away before I can touch his skin. Legion snatches the man with his teeth, ripping into him before tossing him aside. The injured vamp lands on the other side of the road. I note the other vampires are already strewn across the bubbling pavement, each one bloodied and unmoving.

  Legion stalks to my attacker and pins the man to the ground with a large, bloodied claw. Smoke curls from the dragon’s nostrils, and a moment later, a lick of flames leaks from his mouth, engulfing the vampire until his screams are cut short.

  Finally, the dragon turns to face me.

  I stare at his glowing eyes, a thousand feelings racing through me. The urge to go to him is strong. I find myself scanning his large form, checking for injuries.

  I shouldn’t care.

  But I do.

  And that’s exactly why I turn away and fumble with the driver’s handle. Warmth hits my hand, and I stop, turning to see Legion’s dragon inching closer. His large snout nudges my hip, and I sidestep mostly out of instinct so I don’t brush him with my exposed skin.

  He stares at me with a sadness that pricks at my heart.

  “I can’t,” I say simply.

  He huffs, and a small whiff of smoke escapes his nostrils. His frustration reignites my own temper, and I turn away, wrenching open the car door and sliding inside before he can stop me.

  I avoid his glowing gaze as I rev the engine and hit the gas, swerving back onto the road—as if I can somehow outrun him. But he doesn’t move even when I speed off, and I watch in my rearview until his mournful eyes disappear.

  My heart aches with a sense of loss, but I shove the pain down, reminding myself he’s the enemy. And you can’t lose what you never had.

  I’m nearly back to the city when the car is accosted a second time. I gasp, swallowing a panicked shriek as I imagine Uziah’s men regrouping and doubling their efforts. This time without a watchful dragon to rescue me.

  Instead of stopping, I hit the gas, speeding up and heading for the portal.

  The sound of metal being scraped is followed by the roof being punctured. I glance up to see a long, blood-stained claw poking through the car’s roof. Then another. Then another.

  Suddenly, the road beneath my tires drops away, and my entire car is being lifted into the air. Wind roars outside, and I glance out the window to see large black wings beating wildly against the air—gaining altitude fast.

  Treetops fall away, and my stomach drops to my knees as the dragon above me banks sharply right and I’m carried off across the skies.

  Chapter 33

  Tori

  Realizing my power windows still work at a thousand feet elevation is possibly the weirdest part about my current situation. I lean my head out the open window and scream at the dragon currently stealing my car with me in it. Not to mention, he’s flying in the opposite direction of the portal that will take us home.

  “Put me down, asshole!”

  Legion ignores me and keeps flying.

  I hastily roll the window back up to avoid a flock of incoming birds.

  After that, Legion simply flies toward the horizon. The ground beneath us changes as we fly away from the Crossroads and any other sign of life inside it. After a few minutes, hills and valleys and farmland slope toward mountains and rivers and lakes.

  I grip the steering wheel like some kind of life line when he suddenly dips toward the ground again. My knuckles whiten, and my breathing stops as the rocky mountaintop comes up to meet me far too fast. At the last minute, everything slows, and my tires once again touch the ground.

  I jostle as if I’ve hit a pothole, and then everything goes still.

  The dragon retreats, and I watch in the rearview as the beast shifts into the man I know; the man I have every reason to hate.

  I watch him approach in the side mirror, my temper swirling at the sight of the naked, handsome, infuriating man who’s just saved me then abducted me—again. Climbing out of the car, I glare at him, mask and gloves off in a silent dare.

  “Tor,” he says, relief lacing my name like a prayer. The sound of my name in that voice sends shivers through me, but I refuse to let him see how affected I am.

  “Don’t,” I say coldly.

  He stops, scanning the length of me. “Are you hurt?”

  I hesitate, but there’s no point in worrying him. “No.” I frown at the blood and dirt coating his body. “Are you?”

  He softens. “No.”

  “Liar.” I gesture at the shallow cut on his ribs.

  He brushes me off. “It’s nothing.”

  I want to argue. To tell him the very idea of him being harmed terrifies me. But I don’t want that to be true anymore.

  “Why did you bring me here?” I ask.

  “Uziah threatened you,” he says. “He told me he won’t stop until…”

  He doesn’t finish, but we both know what he means.

  “He can’t get to me in Tartarus,” I say, still not sure why he brought us all the way out here.

  He shakes his head. “The portal wasn’t safe. He would have laid a trap.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because that’s what I would have done.”

  I study him, remembering what Uziah claimed. About being his father. “Do you believe him? About being your… you know.”

  His eyes flash with a pain I’ve seen before. The pain of his past. “It’s possible. He knew things no one else could have.”

  “About the blood oath?”

  He nods. The pain in his gaze becomes a plea. But I haven’t forgotten how we ended up here.

  “That’s something you’ll have to deal with alone,” I say. “I need to get Kendall and find somewhere safe for us⁠—”

  “I am safe for you,” he insists, eyes flashing.

  “You don’t get it,” I snap. “You’re the one I need safety from.”

  He stares at me like I’ve just slapped him. Then he blinks, and the anguish I see stabs at me, tempting to crumble the walls I’ve built around my heart in the last hour.

  “I will never let anything happen to you.”

  “Why?” I shoot back.

  “What?”

  “Why bother offering me a vow like that? You don’t want to mate me. And I don’t want to mate you.”

  Lie.

  But I’ll make it true.

  I have to.

  “Why bother continuing this charade? Let me go, Legion. It’s over.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Because of this stupid mate bond.” I roll my eyes. “It’s not like we claimed each other. We can still say no.”

  He stares back at me with what feels like more secrets. Hurt stabs at me at the reminder of what he kept from me. And if there’s more—I can’t take it.

  “Let’s just be done with this,” I say, lifting my chin with a challenge in my hard gaze. “You could reject me.”

  “No,” he growls with enough force that I cross my arms against the urge to step back.

  This time, I let a threat edge into my voice as I say, “I could reject you.”

  His dark gaze flashes with a flicker of flames in their center. “You won’t.”

  The certainty in his words pricks my pride. Instead of remembering all the reasons why I shouldn’t do it—all the reasons I don’t actually want to—the words fly from my lips if only to prove him wrong and wipe that smug-ass look off his face.

  “Legion Razginath, I rej⁠—”

  He roars, closing the distance between us and shoving me back against the car. My breath is stolen but not from the impact. It’s the look in his stormy, pain-filled eyes that has my lungs squeezing and my heart pounding. His breath on my face—the taste of it in my mouth—and his full lips hovering so close I can practically feel them on mine already. The chaos in his eyes reflects the raging emotions I feel for what we are to each other.

  “Don’t,” he pleads.

  In that word, I hear what he won’t say. He wants me. And he wants me to want him.

  I can’t deny that I do.

  I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone.

  That’s precisely what I hate about him.

  No, it’s the betrayal I hate. The way I opened myself up to him—a first for me—and he cut me.

  “You don’t want this any more than I do,” I argue, desperate now to be rid of this force that continues to draw me back to him even when it hurts. “You told me that yourself. Why are you making this so difficult?”

  A shadow crosses his handsome features, further darkening his expression. For a moment, there’s a vulnerability in him. A glimpse into the raw, real truth that lies buried so deep. “Even without accepting the bond, we are connected,” he says quietly.

  “If you’re talking about this curse, you can go fuck⁠—”

  “I’m talking about my feelings for you. And your feelings for me.”

  “Those feelings aren’t real. They’re the mate bond luring us in.”

  “You know it’s more than that.”

  “No, I don’t,” I say stubbornly.

  “I never wanted you as a mate,” he says, hurting me even though he’s said it before. “So, it’s not the mate bond. Because even with it drawing me to you, I was going to resist. To walk away. But then I got to know you. And something changed. I became willing to help you. And every day we spent together became better than the last. You’re not what I thought you’d be. You’re kind. Compassionate. Smart. You make my life better, Torissa Sage. In every way.”

  My resolve softens with every word he utters. I blink back hot, angry tears as I say, “What does it all change, though? Nothing. I’m still cursed. And your crazy parents are still after you.”

  “Exactly. Rejecting me won’t change anything either. They will still come for you to get to me.”

  “And I will still be cursed,” I say bleakly.

  Pain flashes in his dark gaze. “But the bond between us offers one edge that will help.”

  “What?”

  “The madness that comes from resisting it. Resisting you.” His voice is raw, his eyes haunted. “My shadow beast grows stronger every day that passes without claiming you.”

  “Why does that sound like it’s not a good thing?”

  His smile is crooked and darkly rueful. “Because I might actually go mad over it. But the bloodlust is a power all its own. A power we’ll need against what’s coming.”

  “And by that you mean your batshit parents.”

  “Yes.”

  My eyes narrow. “You refuse to reject me because our connection makes you more able to kill and destroy?”

  “Hmm. Now that you mention it, I think we’ve both enjoyed a few other perks as well, little assassin.”

  “Screw you,” I mutter, but there’s no fury left in the words.

  His eyes flash with pure lust, and in response, I feel the same desperate need tightening in my own core. “Unfortunately, that’s not on the table,” he says. “Though, as you know, there are other options.”

  I nearly rock my hips toward him, remembering that night in the library, the way he brought me to orgasm with the friction of his hand through my clothes. But then I remember my poisonous skin. And whose bloodline caused it. And the secret he kept about it all this time.

  He made my life better too. That’s what made his lie hurt so much.

  “You wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy any of them,” I tell him darkly.

  One touch. That’s all it would take to end this. Something tells me it wouldn’t be difficult to slip past his defenses either. To convince him to forget why we shouldn’t. To press my exposed flesh to his.