Standing outside, Attor let the cold breeze sweep across his face as he closed his eyes. She had run with a determination to vanish from the face of the earth. The thing she wasn’t taking into consideration was that she was his mate. He knew what her energy felt like, he just needed to concentrate. The sounds of a busy city faded into the background of his mind, as he stood perfectly still. The wind created by the cars that zoomed past in the rhythmic ebb and flow of traffic, helped him tune in to a particular beacon.

Attor knew which way she’d gone. Casting a quick glance left he leaped out to a chorus of honking horns as he ran across the road. A few blocks later he felt she was close. Stopping to refocus, Attor saw a small shape huddled under a tree. He walked closer to her. Silently placing one foot in front of the other, he was ready to follow again if she bolted.

“Taryn?” he whispered, her head flicked around like a bolt of lightning. Her face had fully returned to human, but the streaks of blackness that ran down her cheeks from tears being shed broke Attor’s heart.

“Why?” she sobbed. “Why, Attor? Why did you follow me?” her voice was barely audible between her sobs.

Attor stood still for a second, his brain repeated her question. Why did I follow her? He stopped thinking and spoke from his heart. “Because I love you.” The words flowed so smoothly from his tongue, he knew they held only truth.

“You love me?” Taryn was startled by the words that he had said.

You went there, big boy, no backing out now. His brain pushed him to continue. Attor walked the last two steps to sit down beside her. His knees bent as he rested his linked arms on top of them. Attor stared out through a small gap in the surrounding buildings, where he could just see a sliver of the blue ocean. His upper arm rubbed up and down on hers as he breathed slowly because he wanted the words he chose to be perfect.

She needed perfect.

She deserved perfect.

He had to be her perfect.

“In dragon lore, it’s deemed that if fate casts you in a fortunate light, a mate of their choosing will be sent. The perfect soul that balances out the unevenness of life. This gift that fate bestows is one that should be treasured beyond all else. Fate doesn’t grant every dragon this fortune, so when one finds that they had indeed been chosen to receive a true match for their soul…” He took a breath slowly. “To treat it with anything less than pure joy would be casting insult at the goddess herself.”

“And the dragon has no choice?” Taryn asked.

Attor knew this was pivotal to her understanding, but wanted to be as honest as he could be. “I guess the choice is a freedom everyone possesses, however, it’s not a choice of mate. Fate sends you a gift, if you don’t want to unwrap it that’s the choice, I guess.” Attor shrugged as he looked over at her. “Fate sends an unequivocal signal when it’s a mate.”

“A sign?”

Attor nodded, smiling as he watched her breathing return to a more normal pace, and the tears not rolling with the same freedom he had seen earlier. “Indeed, a sign.” He laughed lightly. “It’s really weird… but I don’t want to bother you with the details.” He pushed her playfully with his shoulder.

“Tell me…” A small smile crept on to her face as he taunted her gently. “It’s not like I have anywhere else to be.”

“True, you’re at a loss aren’t you?” He winked. “Okay, well… it’s said that when a dragon meets his true mate… the perfect match for his soul that she would be encapsulated by the scent of a decadent dessert. A smell with such sweet accuracy that it blinds her to all other smells.”

“Lemon pie,” she whispered.

“Lemon pie,” Attor repeated with a soft smile.

“I am your mate?”

“You are the most beautiful gift sent to me by the goddess herself. While at the beginning the shock was overwhelming, I now couldn’t be more grateful for having the opportunity to share a future with such a captivating creature.”

“Creature is right…” Her head dropped at being reminded of her beast.

Attor shifted his weight as he moved to face her. Sitting on his hip, he reached over and hooked a finger under her chin. Lifting her face to look into his eyes. He was so taken by the intoxicating beauty that stared back at him. Lowering his lips to hers, he kissed her ever so gently. Attor felt his body explode with a million tiny electric shocks as he closed his eyes and kissed her again. Brushing his lips softly against hers, he breathed in her scent deeply. Attor was standing at the gates of his own personal nirvana, begging for her to respond.

Taryn placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back slightly, seeking his eyes as he opened them. “What about…?” Her voice teetered on a cliff face, the smallest wrong movement threatened to topple her down into the black abyss of self-loathing below.

Attor’s lips tilted up at the corners. “I won’t lie, I was apprehensive for about three and a half seconds.” He nodded. “Then I got completely lost in the amazing gift which has been bestowed to me. I can’t wait to know everything about you. I’m eager to forge a unique bond between us, one that hasn’t been seen before. You never know, we might hold the key to ending the war between our species?”

“I didn’t grow up this way. I never knew about this…” She waved her finger around her face. “It wasn’t until one night in a Vegas hotel…” her voice trailed off, she lowered her eyes as the tears threatened to flow once more, as she remembered why she was running in the first place.

Attor once more hooked her chin with his finger and lifted her eyes to meet his. He was so taken by the beauty that sat looking back at him, he couldn’t imagine going one more day without her being part of his life. He knew with complete certainty, that from this moment on he was bagged and tagged.

“Do you trust me?” Attor asked as he held her gaze. “I asked you this once before, I’m hoping things might have changed.”

Taryn looked deeply into the eyes of a dragon. He had kidnapped her, held her against her will and scared the living bejeebers out of her. Yet, here he sat, exposed and vulnerable asking her to give him a chance. He knew what she was. She was the very thing his clan hated most in the world, but he saw past that. He looked into her soul, her heart, her mind, and didn’t walk away. When most men would run, he’d chosen against all his natural instincts to follow. Now it was her choice. Did she run like she had always done? Or did she stop and follow her instincts.

Taryn waited a few seconds before nodding. “I trust you.”

Attor kissed her with an intensity that pushed her backward. Bringing up his other hand to cup her face as he rolled his lips harder against hers. A soft growl bubbled up from his chest as his brain set off a skyline full of fireworks. Under the shaded protection of a small group of trees, Attor reached over, scooped her up and slid her body over to sit on his lap.

His lips not leaving hers, he wrapped his massive arms around her waist and pulled her firmly against him. His hand dropped to cup her firm, round ass, squeezing it with his strong fingers. The hard squeeze made her open her mouth in surprise as he dove deep with his tongue. Finding hers, he tilted his head and kissed her deeply with all the intense emotion his heart was feeling.

Taryn broke the kiss, she sat up with her eyes wide. “Um… Attor?”

“Mmm…” He smiled as he ran his hands slowly up and down her back, lost in the moment.

“I think they have rules about public displays here.” Taryn slapped his chest playfully as she repeated, “Attor…”

He laughed loudly. “Beating up your man already? That didn’t take long.”

“You got gifted a strong woman, blame fate.” She grinned. “But as I was saying, you have an… um… bulge.” She ground slowly against his growing cock.

“Oh…” He grinned widely, his eyes crinkled with humor. “Blame fate?” he meekly offered her an excuse for lil’T making an appearance. “Keep moving those sexy hips like that, and getting arrested for public indecency will be worth it.” He pulled her hard against him, whispering into her sweet-smelling hair, “I want to spend a lifetime exploring every inch of your body with the greatest attention to details.”

Taryn’s heart exploded with the pleasure that her body was shooting. “I think I like it when you talk like that.”

“I like talking like that.” Attor smiled as he squeezed her ass.

“What now?” Her back slumped slightly, her mind coming back from the ambrosia caused by Attor’s lips. They had a reality that was far from perfect and ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away.

Attor understood by her tone that the moment was over, and she needed him to do more than just talk the words. This was where he put his money where his mouth was, stepped up, and became a mate worthy of her love.

“Now, we go meet up with my brothers. Payton and Kylee will want to know you’re okay.”

“Oh no… they saw…” her voice caught on the back of her throat.

“Payton is V’s mate. She identified you as my mate before I did. Kylee on the other hand? I’m sure V and Payton have that under control.” His words were calming. “That’s the first place we need to go…” he added his new thought of a pet name, “… Feathers.”

“Feathers?” Her eyebrow rose with intrigue.

“Well, I tried out baby girl, darling, and sweetheart all in my head. But Feathers sounded more like you.” He grinned at the sound of her laugh.

Taryn’s smile vanished as Attor’s eyes froze mid-chuckle, and his body thumped back heavily onto the ground like a discarded sack of potatoes. She pushed his chest, “Tor? Tor?” Her voice was sprinkled with panic as she placed her ear on his chest. A small relief gained at hearing his heart beating regularly, despite his body being unconscious.

Taryn lifted her head as she searched for what might have happened. The man from the mall was standing a few feet away. He slowly twirled a blow dart in his hand as he started to walk forward with an even pace so as to not draw attention from the busy street.

“What did you do?” she hissed as she crawled protectively over her newly found mate.

“Oh… my,” the man said. “A phoenix protecting a dragon? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” He clicked his tongue in disgust. “That will never fly with me.”

“Who are you?” Taryn spat accusingly at the stranger.

“For the moment, you can call me the Sandman.”

His grin sent chills down her spine, but she swallowed hard and asked, “Sandman?”

“Nighty night, Taryn.” The stranger brought the bamboo straw to his mouth, and with a short, sharp breath, he sent the dart flying. Taryn felt the prick of pain as it lodged in her shoulder, and within seconds the blackness had crept into her eyes as she crumpled on top of Attor, lost to the dark.

Q pulled out his cell and pressed a button, raising it to his ear he said, “Bring the van. Now.” Clicking it off, he put it back into the front pocket of his jeans. Looking down upon the two unconscious bodies, he couldn’t help but grin. Fortune had certainly looked kindly upon him today.

 

 

“Ladon,” Jo said his name. “Do you see that?” They had left the mall in search of the phoenix, and had found themselves a few blocks down the road.

“Huh?” Ladon looked up, turning his head to follow the direction Jo was looking. “What the fuck?” Ladon watched as a large black van was being loaded with two bodies. There was five huge men juggling the weight of one particularly massive body into the open side door. The smaller body was thrown over the shoulder of another man, as a seventh man was standing back speaking on his cell.

Wyvern ran up to join them, panting as he looked at what had caused his brothers to stop. “That’s Q.” He pointed to the man on the phone.

“If that’s Q… then… who is…” Jo gulped as his eyes caught a glimpse of the pink shirt he’d seen Attor wearing earlier. “Fuck, that’s Attor,” he yelled. “Phoenix!”

The brothers launched at the same time Q looked up. Jo saw the moment he recognized the three dragons heading his way. He shoved the men into the van with a force that rocked it on its wheels. Jo roared as he saw Q slide the door shut and the van take off. Unless he changed, Jo knew it wasn’t possible to run it down. He watched as Q moved to the back of the van. The moment he saw that feathered bastard smile and wave, was when Jo signed his death warrant. Come hell or high water, he swore on his mother’s grave, Q would die at his hands. He would take that bird’s neck with his bare hands and squeeze until there was a snap that ended its miserable life.

Ladon pulled out his cell. “V?

“Q has Attor and Taryn…

“Just now… black van…

“Looked unconscious…

“On our way…

Ladon clicked the cell phone off. He looked at his brothers who were obviously distressed at Attor having been taken. “V wants us at the hotel. Now.”

They nodded, already on the move.

Every second counted.

Who knew how many seconds Attor and Taryn had left?