“Sometimes responsibility is a heavy burden when you aren’t prepared,” Ash said, and Adam blinked as he stared at this woman talking as if she knew him. Who the hell did she think she was?!

  Your queen, you moron, whispered his dragon, finally speaking after sitting there in the background like a smug little reptile. The universe has put you two together, and the more you fight it, the harder the forces of nature will work to fulfill your destiny. You know she cannot go after Bart alone. You know we cannot let her go after him alone—not after seeing that video. The bear is feral. It would rip its own mother to shreds, it’s so damned out of its mind. You’re the only one strong enough to control it.

  “Goddamn it!” Adam shouted, not sure if he was talking to the dragon or to Ash and Benson. He decided he was talking to Ash and Benson. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not even in the room! All right! I’ll go after Bart!” He took a long breath, glancing at Ash, seeing the relief spreading across her face, feeling the joy rising in her breast. “But I go alone. There’s no telling what’s going to happen. I may not be able to do a thing with Bart. I may need to fight him. Maybe worse. She’d just be a liability, a distraction, in the way.”

  “Don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room!” Ash said, her voice sharp and hostile, the strength of her tone making Adam pause. He could see the bear in her eyes, feel the animal in her energy. Something told him he’d need her by his side. Perhaps he’d always need her by his side. “He’s my family, and I won’t be left out of this. I just won’t. Sorry.”

  “Neither of you is going to be able to do anything with Bart until he’s united with his mate,” Benson said, once again interjecting. “The best you can do is capture him until his mate arrives on the scene.”

  “Again with that fate and destiny bullshit,” Adam rasped. “So you want us to put Bart in a cage—a nearly impossible task to begin with—and then just sit there and wait until the universe takes its own sweet time bringing his mate onto the scene?”

  “The universe always has perfect timing,” said Benson. “If Bart has gone feral, it means his mate has already appeared on the scene. It’s up to you two to enable the connection. That’s part of your duty as Alpha to your crew, Adam.”

  “So you’re saying Bart’s already met his mate?” Ash said, shooting a quick glance at Adam.

  Benson shrugged. Then he shook his head. “No, or else he’d have claimed her already. It’s more likely that one of you two has met his mate. You two are the connection. After all, the universe has to work through people and events to achieve its goals.”

  “So do you,” said Adam, narrowing his eyes at Benson. “You want me to go after Bart, don’t you. He’s a liability, a train-wreck, a goddamn nightmare. You know I’m the only who can put him down, and that’s the goal you want to achieve. Cover your own ass just in case this all gets traced back to the honorable John Benson.”

  Benson just sat back and stared at Adam, not a word emerging from him. Adam didn’t believe his own words, but he sure as hell wanted to believe that this was some classic Benson trickery. He felt his mind drifting as Benson’s last words echoed in his head. Was it possible the man was right? That it was an Alpha’s duty to connect his crew with their mates as well as lead them? That fate and destiny were working their way through Ash and Adam? If so, who was Bart’s mate? Shit, he hadn’t met any women other than Ash in years! Who the hell could it—

  And then Adam’s memory froze on the image of a woman. Dark eyes, brown face, her hair covered in the traditional Arabian hijab. A chill ran through him as the memory became clear as day: It was the woman from the group of hostages he’d saved on the very day he’d gotten that email from Ash! The only woman who’d had the courage to jump out from the back of the truck and take over the wheel, driving the rest of the frightened women to safety. Instantly it clicked, and in that instant Adam knew the woman would be Bart’s mate, just like he knew this woman by his side was his own mate. Something was coming together, he could feel it. Like it or not, he was at the center of it. He and his mate. His woman. His queen.

  His destiny.

  “Goddamn pesky universe,” he muttered, letting out a slow breath and shifting his gaze to Ash. “All right,” he said to her. “We’ll give it a try. But I’m in charge here, got it? You do exactly as I say!”

  “We’ll see,” said Ash, standing up and facing him, the heat from her body almost making Adam lose control and take her right then and there. “Are we flying or driving?”

  25

  Ash smiled as the wind blew back her long golden hair, pressing her big ears flat against her furry head as the dragon slowly glided above the winding Amazon river. Even from a mile up in the air, the river looked massive, its dark blue waters twisting and turning through the rainforest like a knife-wound.

  I could get used to this, she thought as she looked down at her large paws, claws hanging on to her dragon’s scales as they flew together. She was scared for her brother, anxious about what they were flying into, terrified by what she’d seen in that video. But right now she felt whole, complete, in tune with something larger that was happening.

  “What did Benson mean when he said I knew exactly which buttons to push?” she asked as the dragon took a slow turn in the air.

  She felt the dragon rumble beneath her. “Now’s not the time to push my buttons,” came Adam’s deep dragon-voice. “Last time I checked, bears couldn’t fly.”

  “I flew just fine when I saved your scaly ass from that RPG when we took out Sheikh Ahmed,” she teased, digging her claws in just a little harder.

  “Oh, so now you admit that we took Ahmed out together. Which means I get at least half the bounty. Actually I should get more, since I did all the heavy lifting in that kill.”

  “Heavy lifting? Um, excuse me? Did you just call me fat?” Ash said, leaning in and rubbing her snout against the dragon’s back.

  Adam laughed, the tremor sending shudders through Ash’s bear. “I don’t think that’s even a thing for bears. The bigger the better. The bigger the beautiful.”

  “The bigger the beautiful? Wow, that’s some good grammar. Were you raised by animals?”

  But this time Adam didn’t laugh, and the dragon made a swift dive that churned Ash’s insides. “Not quite,” he growled.

  “Your parents . . .” she said when she caught her breath. “They weren’t both dragons?”

  Adam didn’t reply, and Ash didn’t push it. They flew together for a while, and then finally Adam spoke. “My father was. My mother wasn’t, and she paid the price. That’s why I stayed away from humans. Humans and Shifters don’t mix.”

  “Shifters are humans!” Ash said indignantly. “We’re both human and animal, Adam! You know that better than I do. Humans and Shifters will mix just fine!”

  “Tell that to my mother,” rasped Adam. “We’ll stop by her grave sometime and you can talk all you want. You’ll understand if she doesn’t answer, being dead and all. Though maybe her ghost will talk to you. Who knows.”

  Ash looked down at her powerful mate. She could feel his pain like it was her own. There was something else there too, though. More than just the pain of losing a parent. There was anger. There was guilt. And there was . . . shame?

  “Where is she buried?” she asked softly. “Maybe I will visit her grave.”

  Adam snorted, sending wisps of hot smoke out of the dragon’s nostrils. “You’ll have to ask my father. He kept her gravesite a secret.”

  “OK, I’ll ask him. Where is he?”

  “No idea. Probably dead too,” said Adam with a sharpness in his voice. “Good luck finding him.”

  Ash blinked as she listened to Adam suddenly begin to open up to her about his past. Why now? Had he changed his mind about her? Had he decided he was going to accept that they were together, that she was his mate?

  “You forget I’m an investigative reporter. I have a knack for finding people. And when I do, I’m sure he’ll allow his daughter-in-law to pay her respects,” she whispered, still teasing but kinda not. She wanted to see how he reacted.

  Adam laughed, and his reaction made her laugh too, the sound coming out as a high-pitched roar.

  “Oh, so we’re getting married? I missed the part where I proposed to you,” he said, turning his massive head to the side, his gold eye studying her as it gleamed.

  “Fated Shifter mates don’t need things like proposals,” she said.

  “Then we don’t need things like weddings either. Weddings cost money. Besides, I don’t have any friends I care to invite.”

  Ash giggled, thinking of Polly and wondering what her best friend would think about being Maid of Honor at a bear-dragon wedding. Then she felt a hint of sadness when she realized that her old life was gone forever. Jokes about bear-claw Sundays aside, Polly would be absolutely terrified if she saw Ash turn into a bear in the kitchen. And could Ash even trust herself around Polly? Could she trust her own animal around someone who wasn’t ready to see what nature had created?

  Ash looked down at the massive dragon beneath her paws. She knew it was Adam inside the beast, just like the beast was inside Adam. She understood his need to be alone, his need to escape from the judgment of the world, the people running in fear, calling him a monster and a freak.

  “You aren’t kidding, are you?” she whispered down to him.

  “About what?”

  “About having no friends. You don’t, do you?”

  Adam was quiet. Then he turned his head and gazed at her. “You mean buddies who come over on Sundays to watch the game?”

  “Something like that. Someone to talk to.”

  “I have my dragon.”

  Ash sighed. “You are your dragon. It’s like talking to yourself.”

  “Then why do I argue with it so much?”

  “Because you’re conflicted,” Ash said. “You want to reach out to someone, to let someone inside, past your scaly, hard exterior. But you’re terrified.”

  Adam snorted, flashes of light blue flame emerging on his breath. “I am not terrified of anything. I bring the terror.”

  “And that’s exactly why you’re so scared of letting someone get close to you, understand you . . .” Ash paused as the word stuck on her tongue. “Love you.”

  A rumble went through the dragon’s body, and it blasted a streak of red flame into the air. Ash smiled as she felt the heat, knowing it was the dragon’s way of saying, “I love you too.” Now she just had to get the human to say it.

  But Adam was quiet, and although Ash felt exposed and vulnerable now that she’d said the L word, she decided to hold back. Technically she hadn’t actually said, “I love you.” She could wait a bit longer. If this was fate, if she was his mate, then what difference did it make when he acknowledged that he loved her? Just like it didn’t matter who proposed and if there was even a wedding.

  But it does matter, Ash thought as an image of a strange bear-dragon wedding came to her mind, making her laugh out loud. I’m not just an animal, and not just a human. I’m both, and if this is fate, then I want my wedding! I’m still a girl, dammit! I want to do my hair and my nails, starve myself for a month so I look kinda thin in my wedding pictures, then stuff my face after the cameras have stopped rolling.

  “Adam,” she said softly. “I want to—”

  “There!” said Adam, looking down at some activity in a clearing near the river. They were still so high up that Ash could barely make out the details, but she understood that the dragon could see clearly for miles. “Hold on, Ash.”

  She dug her claws in just as Adam descended in a steep dive, and the wind screamed past her flattened-down ears as they headed for the action. Ash narrowed her eyes to slits as she tried to see what was happening below, and when things finally came into focus, a wave of panic went through her.

  Because there, in a cage made of shining titanium, was a massive grizzly, roaring and howling as it thrashed against the bars, slammed its massive body against its metal prison. It was Bart, her brother. She knew it. She could feel it. He was wild with rage, out of his mind with anger, and as Adam swooped in for a landing, Ash saw the bear’s eyes: big and bloodshot, mad and feral. It scared her, and her panic turned to despair as she wondered if there was any hope left for this beast.

  “Adam,” she said, her voice trembling. “Why is he in a cage? Who could’ve done this? Why is there no one else around?”

  She prepared to jump off Adam’s back, to go to her brother. Maybe he’d remember her. After all, he was older. He’d remember his baby sister, wouldn’t he? Maybe she could calm him down. Help him through this. Free him.

  “No!” commanded Adam, raising a massive wing and slamming Ash on the side, stopping her from jumping off him. “It’s a trap, Ash. Stay on me. Stay!”

  “No!” Ash screamed, trying to leap off the dragon again. But Adam was too strong, and a moment later he’d taken off again, rising so fast she knew she couldn’t jump from this height.

  “What are you doing?!” she screamed, digging her claws in as she wondered if she could steer the dragon back down. “That’s Bart down there! We need to go to him!”

  “Not until we figure out what’s going on,” Adam said firmly. “Who put him in that cage? And where are they? No, Ash. This isn’t right. It’s a trap. I can feel it. I can smell it. I can damned well . . . wait, what’s that?”

  Ash glanced down, but she didn’t see anything. She squinted, and finally she saw movement. A black streak moving around the edges of the clearing. An animal of some kind. Well, it was the freakin’ rainforest! There were animals everywhere! Why was Adam focusing on this one? What was it, anyway? It wasn’t a bear. Wait, was it a . . . a wolf?!

  “Caleb,” came the low, rasping whisper from the dragon, and Ash could feel the heat in its belly as it circled in the air and then dove at such speed she had to use every ounce of her bear’s strength just to hang on. “Caleb, you treacherous piece of wolfshit. Caleb!”

  26

  Ash stared into the wolf’s eyes as she and Adam flew in at breakneck speed. She had no idea what Adam was planning to do, but she knew that all she could do was hang on and follow his lead. He’d been right: She wasn’t prepared for this. As a bear she had instinct and strength. But she didn’t have any experience. She was a writer, for God’s sake. Adam was a Special Forces soldier. She needed to trust him. Trust her mate. Trust his instincts above even her own.

  “Caleb?” she said as she locked eyes with the wolf. Its eyes were blood-red, shining bright like stoplights on a dark night. She couldn’t look away, and a strange feeling of dizziness began to wash over her. She felt her grip on Adam’s back loosen, and she swore the wolf was somehow controlling her. “Caleb the Wolf Shifter? He’s your friend, isn’t he? Why is he . . . why am I . . . oh, God, Adam, what’s happening?!”

  “Witchcraft,” roared the dragon. “Caleb has taken in dark magic. Don’t look at him, Ash! Do not look into his goddamn eyes!”

  But it was too late, and Ash felt the wolf’s dark power loosen her final hold on Adam’s back. She rolled off the dragon and began to fall, but Adam twisted in the air, shooting a jet of white-hot flame towards the black wolf before swooping in and catching her. He took off back into the skies with her in his powerful arms, the rage still bubbling as he rose so high the air felt cold as ice even on Ash’s fur.

  “Did you say witchcraft?” she finally said once she’d caught her breath. “When did witches become a thing?! Are witches a thing?!”

  Adam grunted as he circled high above the scene, his dragonsight peering down. “Ash, we are humans who turn into animals. Yes, witches are a thing. They’ve always been a thing. I just haven’t seen a Shifter fall under a spell like that.”

  “Wait, Caleb’s under a magic spell? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Something like that. He’s using dark magic. But he doesn’t have any witch blood in him, which means he’s made a deal with a dark witch or wizard. Or is under their control, become a witch’s familiar, a creature that is just an instrument of the witch’s dark magic. This is a problem, Ash. A big problem.”

  “So just burn the problem,” Ash snarled, feeling her bear rise up as her black claws clenched and released at the thought of her brother down there in a freakin’ cage. “Burn the dog, and I’ll rip it apart.”

  Adam grunted, turning his head halfway and raising an invisible eyebrow. “While I appreciate the sentiment, it isn’t that easy. I don’t have a lot of experience with witchcraft. I don’t know how much power the wolf has. Clearly it has enough to get your out-of-control brother into a cage. It has enough power to knock you off my back.”

  “What, you scared of a little wolf?” Ash growled. “Well then, just drop me off and I’ll take care of it.”

  Adam laughed, the sound accompanied by a swell of heat in the dragon’s belly. “There isn’t a witch alive that can stand up to my dragon’s fury, I assure you. I’m not scared for myself, Ash.”

  Ash went silent when she realized he was scared for her, his instinct to protect his mate coming to the forefront. That was why he was flying a mile up in the air instead of planting his massive talons firmly on the ground and facing down that dark wolf, freeing Bart, and ending the game. He didn’t want to risk Ash’s life and safety. She made him weak. She made him vulnerable. She was a goddamn liability, just like he'd said!

  Her mind swirled as she tried to figure out what to do, what to say, how to tell him that she was prepared to handle any risk so long as she was with him, that she felt safe with him, that her bear was strong too. But then the image of that wolf’s eyes came back to her, and she knew she wasn’t powerful enough to handle whatever was happening here.

 

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