She gave up without a fight. Just…gave up.

I watched as she walked ahead of me, my mind reeling from it all. The one greatest experience of my life, and it had been a very long life, and the world came crashing down around me. I’d seen the fear in her eyes as she put her clothes back on, I’d seen the terror there, and knew that our shared experience had left her wanting to run.

If Wruin hadn’t come in I might have been able to calm her down, I might have talked her down. Wruin had arrived, however, and changed it all. She’d all but thrown herself at the guards to get away. It left me confused, hurt, and annoyed.

“What are you going to do with her?” I asked Wruin as the guards came to me. A single glare of storm gray eyes changed their minds. I was a dragon, I would not be chained by anybody.

Even my brother.

“We’re all going to my lands. We have the facilities there to deal with prisoners. Including you.” Wruin stalked away then, his shoulders as unmovable as a mountain.

I held my head high and followed the lead of the six guards, Wruin, Endre, and Aska. I didn’t see Holly or Fern anywhere around, and I wasn’t going to say a word about them either. My knees were still shaking from the experience of bedding Aska, There’d been no time to go over it, to savor it, because Aska bolted so quickly, I couldn’t stop her.

One minute we’d reached the Nirvana I’ve heard so much about in my life, the next, she was running, Wruin was there, and now my head throbbed in pain and confusion. Wruin wanted to make me a prisoner? I had betrayed him, I knew that, but imprison me? I’d find my own little island to exile myself to before that happens.

“Keep them apart.” Wruin ordered from behind me.

I’d hoped he wouldn’t notice my slow but steady movements to get back to Aska. If I could get near her, perhaps I might be able to get through her mental shields and we could plot a way to escape together. Wruin put a stop to those plans.

A burly guard stepped between us, and I had to hold back a bark of laughter. No bear was a match for a dragon. It was only the fact that they had Aska in their grasps that kept me in line with it all, and Wruin likely knew it. Not a single guard had a weapon on him, they didn’t really need them in our world. I could have taken them all on my own, if Wruin hadn’t been there. I did not want to fight my brother, I just wanted to be left in peace with Aska.

I had to face facts, though, she didn’t seem overly keen on being around me. She hadn’t even turned to look back at me as we trekked out of the cave. We were soon outside, in the night air, and the guards took Aska through the portal we found there without a word. She didn’t even pretend to turn back. Was she that afraid of love?

“Taka.” Wruin caught my attention, and I turned to look at him, my jaw hard and my eyes a brittle gray with hints of blue. I knew they could change colors instantly, a quirk of my dragon blood.

“What Wruin? You’re condemning me to a cave for life? Perhaps the very one you were trapped in? Can you really blame me for what I’ve done here? You who nearly lost one brother already?” I stared at him and saw a face similar to my own. His eyes were a different color and his hair a different shade, but we were almost matched in height.

“No, Taka. You’ll be free to roam around my lands, you are a king after all.” His voice was soft, almost gentle. “I know exactly what I’d do for my mate, and what it’s like to crave them. I can’t blame you for taking Aska, but I don’t think you quite realize the danger you may be in. She’s not like us, Taka, she’s not had our life. She might look like my Abigail, but she is the exact opposite of my queen.”

“What, you think she wants to use me to bring us all down?” I flinched, realizing he might be right. She wouldn’t have flinched away from me so quickly if that was the case. No, I couldn’t believe that was her plot. “It might have been her plan to begin with, but I think she knows that can’t happen now.”

Because she doesn’t want to love or be loved. I knew that had to be the case. I’d seen the images from her childhood, the tests her father had put her through to harden her, the pain she’d endured. Only now, when I was away from her, could I think about the horrific nature of her life. No, she hadn’t had our life. We’d had hardship, but we hadn’t had the brutality that had been her life from the moment of her birth. I was nearly driven to my knees as the enormity of it overwhelmed me.

“She’s afraid to love me, Wruin. And she will love me if she tries to play that kind of game with me, she won’t be able to stop herself. No, I don’t think you have to worry about her trying to use me, she’ll let us both die before she lets me near her again.” I knew that with certainty. That’s the kind of person her father had made her.

“Then you can go free, brother. Your people are coming to my lands now. We’ve had reports that Airitech is trying to get back into Endre’s lands. It’s warmer in my lands, anyway.”

“You’re under water aren’t you?” Maybe I’d feel more at home there.

“Yes, but it’s different from your lands, greener, without all of the blue.” My lands were nearer to the surface than Wruin’s, and in a different part of the ocean. Sometimes we could even catch a glimpse of the stars, if the water above us was calm enough.

My home could not be seen by humans because we were a part of the magical world, a world that nonmagicals could not see unless we wanted them to see us. It kept us safe from their prying, greedy eyes, and their need for war. We’d brought in a few humans, those we trusted with our secrets, but it rarely happened. Maybe I’d get back my land, with the blue streams and artificial coastline, before I died when Aska refused to come near me.

“You know I’ll die if I can’t be around her?” I knew he understood, but I wanted to hear him say it.

“I’ve been thinking,” he guided me with a large hand to the portal and we stepped through it. A slight pop in our ears was the only indication that anything had happened as we stepped through the green and purple haze that served as the portal to Wruin’s kingdom. “Perhaps you should try to get her to let you see her. If what you say is true, and you can get her on our side, then she won’t be a worry to any of us anymore, will she?”

“You want me to betray her?” I asked him, stopping to stare at him aghast.

“In a sense I suppose so. It’s for her own good, Taka, and yours. As you said, you’ll both die if you’re kept apart. I know I’ve been hard, Taka, cruel even, but it’s for the good of all. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I should have caged you up together.” He stepped ahead of me, pondering his own thoughts again.

I didn’t like it, forcing her to love me by making sure she couldn’t escape me was just wrong. Wasn’t it? I had my own thoughts to ponder now.

I sifted through the memories Aska had given me, making notes of the few times she’d ever smiled in her life as I followed Wruin to the quarters I’d been assigned. It seemed my people and I had been given the run of an area that had been built but had remained unpopulated. I noted it was near to Aska’s position; I could sense her near but hadn’t pinpointed her yet. Wruin had seen the sense in the plan then.

Hope filled my heart as I sought her out. Wruin had gone back to his own home, high in the trees. Our homes were on the ground, done in stucco and wood in the style of the dark places to be found underground in the American southwest. Some of the buildings were four stories tall, others were only ground level, and all had been made from red clay and hardwood. They were nice, especially the ones that had been whitewashed already.

The buildings in my land blended into the scenery, an expansion of the hut style, but with a more open floor plan. None were over a single story high, but most covered a very large area. With thatched roofs and clay sides, the houses were airy and open, a place to relax and unwind. We had no enemies, except for nature, and had lived happily until the earthquake rocked the timbers free from the roofs of houses and shook the walls down around us.

We could rebuild, if we needed to, but I had to wonder if the land was safe now. I have a feeling that was not going to be the last earthquake. Something deep inside told me that. I located the building Aska was in at last, but did not go inside. I could feel the terror she was barely controlling roiling around in her chest, threatening to stop her heart. I could also sense when she felt me near. The anxiety eased a little, and she relaxed.

I concentrated until I could see her through the wall. She was taken to a place to shower, and given fresh clothes. She went into the shower, trying to ignore my presence, back on her guard once again.

I knew why she was doing it now. I just wanted to show her that, even if she’d never been loved, she was now, and she would be until I drew my last breath. She deserved to know love, more than anyone else.

It was a wonder she wasn’t a monster after the cruelty her father had shown her. I was amazed that she could show any tenderness at all. Part of her wanted and needed affection, and wanted to give it, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t trust herself or him enough to recognize it. I know in my heart that we loved each other. I just had to teach her to trust me, and yes, herself. I know how it felt to be in the fight or flight zone. She must have lived her entire life feeling like that.

I knew there was a lot of work ahead, but it was going to be worth it.  She was going to be worth it. I never for a moment questioned the knowledge of our mating bond, or that I loved her. The mating bond was strong. To my knowledge mated couples had always been in love. None had ever fallen out of love. The mating bond truly is forever, one partner may fight it, may try not to love, but it would be impossible. I suspect my little fighter was going to try not to love me, but I am going to teach her you can’t fight it.  I know she loves me, I just have to prove it to her.

We were mates, and I was a king. I could give her the world, at least my world. Maybe I could make her see that what we had was enough, it was far more than enough.

I went to my quarters, showered in the elven engineered wonder that was my bathroom, and put on fresh clothes. I was starting to feel the first effects of our separation, a slight anxiety that was distracting, but made the time to stop for food. I saw that my people were happy in their new homes and settling in, checked on the status of our own homeland with one of the engineers, and went to seek out Wruin.

He was in his tree-home, Abigail on his lap in a simple wooden chair in their kitchen. They looked content and filled with a kind of happiness that I envied. I didn’t resent their happiness, I just wanted to know what it was like to have that.

“Taka!” Abigail exclaimed, jumping from Wruin’s lap when I knocked at the open frame of their front door, her hand smoothing his kiss from her mouth. She looked at me with proud guilt in her eyes, she’d been caught kissing her mate in the middle of the day. Abigail was so similar to Aska that, for a moment, my heart lurched.

They had the exact same face, the same tilted nose, the ears that you expected to be elven and pointed but were tiny and round, with perfect lobes. They could have been twins really, Abigail and Aska, but Aska had been borne by a different mother and was a shifter. Abigail had the wolf DNA, but could not shift. She did have magic though. I’d seen it in action and had been awed by it.

“Dearest queen, please excuse my interruption.” I bowed from my waist, my right arm extended.

“Oh, stop that silliness, Taka. Do you want some coffee? Holly hounded Wruin until he found her some.” She went to the kitchen area and put a kettle on the stove. I let her chatter as she went about her preparations, and sat beside Wruin.

“Thank you for coming to me brother. I know what that must have taken.” Wruin didn’t reach out to touch me, that wasn’t how we operated, but his eyes did ask for my understanding.

“I know. It’s a really hard position to be in Wruin. I think Endre might understand it best.” I looked away, unable to go on.

“We’ve all got mates now, Taka. It’s not the same, she is a wolf, but we understand. It’s one of the reasons you are free. We do understand.”

“Thank you brother. Where is Endre?” I hadn’t seen him.

“Uh, he’s taking a couple of days with his mate. To heal from his injury, he says.” His knowing eyes told me that wasn’t what Endre was doing at all.

“Good for him. If he can father children with her, then I wish him luck. We need more children of our own.”

“I think fate might have decided that for us. Perhaps now is the time that we either die away and are replaced by the wolf clans, or we prevail and flourish with a new crop of children and hope.” Wruin could be poetic when he wanted to be.

“Then I shall do my part and see what I can accomplish with Aska.”

“If she’s anything like me, Taka, and under all of that gruffness I expect she is, she just wants to be safe and loved. Sure, she was raised by our…ugh, father, but I think there’s a little bit of me in there, in her. Don’t be rough, don’t act like her father, but definitely overwhelm her with who you are, and you’ll break through her walls.” Abigail plunked a cup of coffee in front of me and I sipped at the heavenly liquid while I thought over her words.

I think she might be right.