Chapter 12
It wasn’t the first time Lisa had been to the dragon lair. It wasn’t even the first time she’d flown up here on a dragon. But somehow, it felt different.
This time she wasn’t just visiting an exciting dragon lair.
She was returning home with her mate.
When she’d left here to go wake Verrian, it had never occurred to her that she’d be returning as his mate. If anyone had told her that, she would have laughed in their face.
If anyone had told her she’d be happy about it, she would have fallen off her dragon.
Verrian touched down on the edge of the cave opening and immediately they were surrounded by humans and human form dragons.
Karla and Taurian were in the lead. “You made it,” Karla exclaimed.
Lisa slid off Verrian’s back and, to her surprise, into Karla’s hug.
“I’m glad you’re both safe,” Karla said.
Lisa hugged her back awkwardly.
Verrian transformed back into his human form and Lisa handed him his clothes. She glanced around the room, ready to glare at anyone who was staring, but of course, they all were. But not because he was naked. As if dragons cared about that.
They were staring because none of them had ever met Verrian.
She took a deep breath. She couldn’t be angry at them for being excited to see their prince.
Even if he was hers.
“Welcome home, brother,” Taurian said warmly, clapping Verrian on the back.
“It’s good to be home,” Verrian replied.
Somehow, his voice seemed different when he was talking to his brother. Deeper, more confident.
Lisa felt a pang of sadness. When there had been just the two of them, he’d been all hers. Now she had to share him. He had a place here. A place she knew next to nothing about.
A place where she didn’t belong.
She took a deep breath. Belong or not, she was here, and they had things to do. “Verrian needs to go back down and pick up Olivia and Raven. They’re waiting at the car,” she reminded him.
“Of course,” Verrian said immediately, turning back towards the lair entrance.
“I’ll send someone.” Taurian nodded to two dragons, who immediately moved to the lair entrance.
Leaving Lisa with no excuse to back away from the clan’s welcome.
Most of them were staring at her. A few looks were starting to seem a little suspicious, maybe even a little judgemental.
Lisa felt one shoulder hunch involuntarily. She’d seen those looks before. The ‘you don’t belong here’ looks. She’d gotten to the point where she could block out the hurt and convince herself that she even didn’t feel it.
So why couldn’t she now?
“What’s going on here?” Ostrian demanded, striding through the crowd. He glared at Taurian, then at Verrian. “Not another prince mated to a human?”
That seemed to unleash the crowd. Murmurs grew louder. A few excited dragons called out.
“They’re mated?”
“To a human?”
“Silence,” Verrian said firmly, holding up his hand.
To Lisa’s surprise, all the murmurs died away immediately.
Verrian turned and took her hand, drawing her forward, despite her reluctance.
“All of you know Lisa,” he began. “You chose her to wake me from the Mesmer, and you chose well. She has done everything she could to protect me and help me while I was separated from my family.”
Lisa could appreciate him wanting to introduce her and to explain her to his clan, but she winced at what was coming. He’d explain, in a minute, that he’d had no choice but to mate with her, that he would have died if she weren’t there.
Oh, sure, he’d probably mention what a sacrifice she’d made, and how wonderful it was of her, but that wouldn’t change the reality. That he hadn’t chosen her.
That she wasn’t really his mate. Not in the true sense of the word.
“Lisa has shown incredible courage and intelligence in the last few days,” Verrian continued. “I am in awe of her amazing skill and bravery, and I’m proud to call her my mate. I hope you will all welcome her into your hearts as I have welcomed her into mine.”
There was stunned silence for a moment.
No one was more surprised than Lisa.
Verrian was in awe of her? He’d welcomed her into his heart?
This was the first she’d heard of it.
Her heart was beating a little faster at the thought. Was he just saying that?
Did she dare hope that he might really care about her? He hadn’t said he loved her. But then, in front of his whole clan wasn’t really the place, was it?
She hesitated, half afraid of finding out the truth, but she couldn’t help herself. “Did you mean that?” she asked him privately, via dragon speech.
“You will always have a place in my heart, Lisa. You’ve done so much for me. How could you not? I want my clan to understand that.”
His reply was ambiguous. Perhaps he did care for her, but it was most certainly not a declaration of love. Lisa tried to ignore her heart sinking.
It was easy to be distracted as Karla gave her a hug and said, “I guess this means we’re sisters now.”
Taurian smiled, and hugged her too. “Welcome to the family, sister.”
Both of them congratulated Verrian as well.
This should have been a magical moment. Lisa had never felt like she fitted in with her family, she’d always felt like an outsider. Her own family had never welcomed her like this.
Trouble was, she couldn’t help wondering if it was just all an act. Especially Verrian’s part. She tried not to grit her teeth, to appreciate what he was doing. It was kind of him to put on an act to protect her.
But she couldn’t help wishing it was real.
“This is exactly why we shouldn’t be letting humans wake the princes and princesses,” Ostrian demanded again. Lisa had almost forgotten that he was the one that started this. Apparently, he wasn’t going to let it go. “It’s bad enough that dragons are mating with humans, but now we have humans as our princesses? Where will this madness end?”
Ostrian’s voice twanged Lisa’s already stretched nerves. She should have known he’d have issues. He’d nearly kept Karla and Taurian apart.
Then it hit her.
She’d known Verrian was a prince. It was one of the things that had gotten her blood racing when she’d been invited to wake him. But somehow, along the line, she’d forgotten. He’d just been Verrian. She’d been far more taken with the man than with his prince status.
It hadn’t even occurred to her that mating with him might make her a princess.
Until now.
Somehow, it felt wrong. She wasn’t princess material. Didn’t princesses have to think about the needs and wants of the whole clan? Lisa wasn’t used to thinking about anyone but herself. And she wasn’t sure she could learn.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Somewhere in the last few days, Verrian had been added to her list of people she cared about and wanted to help more than she wanted things for herself. But a whole clan? She wasn’t sure she could handle worrying about the needs of all these people she barely knew. She had enough problems of her own right now, with figuring out what Verrian thought of her, without adding more troubles into the mix.
A flapping of wings indicated that Olivia and Raven had arrived just in time to hear the whole conversation.
“And just what do you mean by that?” Taurian’s question to Ostrian was frosty.
“Are you implying that you don’t think Lisa is a good enough princess for our clan?” Verrian’s question followed right on the heels of Taurian’s.
If the two of them had been staring at Lisa in that way, she would have quailed. Side by side, they were quite imposing.
Ostrian though, didn’t even blink. “Are you telling me you fell in love with this girl? In a few days? Did you confuse the Mesmer bond for love? Or did she trick you into mating her, like my granddaughter and that… that cowboy?”
That got Lisa riled up. “Chase is a wonderful man. I’m not surprised Wayrian fell in love with him.”
“Lisa did not ‘trick’ me into anything,” Verrian said at the same time. “I knew exactly what I was doing.”
Lisa and Verrian stared at each other. It hit Lisa, belatedly, Chase probably wasn’t the part of Ostrian’s comment she should have picked up on.
But she was used to people having a go at her. So much so that she generally ignored it.
To be honest, she wasn’t too sure that Ostrian’s comment wasn’t uncomfortably close to the mark.
Had she tricked Verrian into mating with her? He might be saying she hadn’t, that he’d known exactly what he was doing, but she wasn’t so sure.
The Mesmer bond was strong. She knew that. She’d experienced it twice now.
What if Verrian was confusing it for stronger feelings for her?
What if she was?
It was all so overwhelming, she wasn’t sure what was right and what was wrong anymore.
Not in her life.
But she wasn’t going to let anyone rain on Chase and Wayrian’s parade.
Lisa carefully avoided Verrian’s searching look, crossed her arms, and glared at Ostrian.
“Ostrian,” Taurian snapped. “You have no right to comment thus on my brother’s mating. Do I need to speak to you about your attitude again?”
Ostrian glared at Taurian. “I will continue to comment on issues that I think could be detrimental to this clan. That’s my job. I will say it again, stop sending humans to wake the princes and princesses. It will only lead to our bloodlines being permanently mixed with humans.”
“Is there a problem with that?” Karla demanded.
Ostrian drew himself up, and stared down his nose at Karla. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
“I don’t understand,” Taurian said flatly. “How about you enlighten me?”
Ostrian’s expression changed so quickly Lisa found it hard to believe. The haughty, angry man was gone. He looked almost reasonable. “We’re dragons,” he said quietly. “Although we’ve spent so long hiding in human form that it’s easy for us to forget, we’re different from them. We are more than they are. I’m afraid we’re going to lose that if we keep mixing with them.”
There were a few sympathetic murmurs from the crowd.
Lisa winced. This was not good.
It had never even occurred to her that her mating with Verrian could upset the dragons. That it could be bad for them. She’d been so busy worrying about what she felt and what she wanted. Some princess she’d make.
Not that Ostrian was doing any better. He just didn’t get it, did he?
“It doesn’t matter if you think dragons are ‘more’ than humans,” Lisa said flatly. “It doesn’t matter how much ‘more’ each one of you is, the simple fact is that there are far more humans in this world than there are dragons. We outnumber you a thousand to one. Probably a million to one. You think that doesn’t count for something?”
Ostrian looked down his nose at her. “Numbers do not equal superiority, only that you breed like rabbits.”
Lisa would have been offended, except that his condescension combined with his attempt at an insult was so ridiculous it was funny. She laughed.
The sound was loud in the cave. Other dragons stared at her in surprise, and a little awe.
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said to Ostrian. “You’ve seen what our weapons can do in battle. How can you still think that you’re superior?”
Ostrian stared at her, his eyes wide. Then he pointed a finger at her, shaking slightly. “This,” he said. “This is what Verrian has brought into our midst. A human who thinks we would be easy to destroy.” His voice rose until it was almost a shriek. “They don’t need to destroy us, they’re slowly invading us from the inside. Within a generation, there will be no full blood dragons left.”
“That’s enough,” Verrian said flatly. “I will not brook your insolence to my mate. If you wish to challenge me, I will fight you now.”
“You can’t challenge me.” Ostrian’s voice shook. “I am a clan elder. You should show me some respect, youngster.”
“My brother is a prince,” Taurian said softly. “He can challenge anyone he feels is a threat to his authority.”
Lisa stared at both of them. Did they really feel that a fight would solve this? Was that how dragons solved their differences?
If Ultrima was anything to go by, probably.
Lisa’s heartrate sped up. Verrian had never won a fight against another dragon. True, he’d only gone up against Ultrima, and there was that fight Raven had mentioned, she hadn’t had a chance to ask about that. But still.
That he would even attempt it.
For her.
Was it because he was bonded to her now? Did the mate bond include some sort of… need to defend her? Somehow, she knew he would have done it even without the mate bond. Questioning her was questioning his choice. A dragon prince couldn’t let that go.
Whether he cared for her or not.
Even if he was doing it for his own reasons, Lisa couldn’t help feeling warm at his defence. She’d never be an outsider while she was mated to Verrian. She belonged now, with magic ties, stronger than even family.
Even if she didn’t deserve it.
“The elders do not support you in this attack, Ostrian,” Mesrian said quietly. “You’re on your own.”
Ostrian visibly wilted at that. He tried one last time. “You support our princes mating humans?” he asked Mesrian, but his voice was a shadow of its former demanding tone.
“I support our princes mating anyone they choose,” Mesrian said firmly. “I trust their judgement without reservation.”
Her words made Lisa feel even more of a fraud. Verrian hadn’t chosen her. He’d had no other choice.
Apparently he wasn’t going to admit that though.
And Lisa couldn’t either. In love or not, she was a dragon mate. She might not be sure about caring for his whole clan, but she had no hesitation in supporting Verrian. She stood next to him and glared at the surrounding dragons as fiercely as he was.
No one voiced any other protest. Not even Ostrian. “I give up,” the old man said tiredly. “This will be the destruction of our clan, mark my words. When we’re no better than humans, don’t forget that I objected to this.” Then he turned and walked away.
Lisa wasn’t fooled by his dejected appearance. She didn’t think they’d seen the last of him.