Meeting Norman had been an… interesting experience. He had not been expecting to meet the rail thin dragon man living off the territory. He certainly hadn’t expected to meet a GOE survivor who’d drowned himself in narcotics to forget what he’d gone through.

The most striking event of the night had been Noelle’s reaction to Norman’s confession. The two clearly interacted on a number of occasions before from the way Norman knew how to push her buttons. It had been fun to watch until Marc saw his mate turn herself inside out with the desire to find her sister.

After they got Lucia out, he told himself, they would search for Mary. They would dedicate their time to finding Noelle’s missing sister. He didn’t think about the implications of her disappearance. He tried not to think about how long the girl had been missing. His parents had survived the long years. Mary very well could have, too.

There was hope, although he didn’t bring it up. He watched Noelle descend the narrow stair case and tuck away the emotions she’d shown inside the apartment. The drive back to the Territory was quiet. Marc struggled to remain in the well of calm he’d built. It was hard in the silence. He used to like long stretches of silence, usually occupied with a book, but it was getting harder and harder to focus as the world around him threatened to implode.

The family was working to expose what GOE was doing, what they’d done over the past fifty years. There was no way of telling how this would end. GOE made a show of arresting and putting their scape goats on trial, but what would the American branch of the international organization do when faced with exposure?

Would they lash out? Would they start attacking the Territory with false claims of aggression from the dragons? It seemed possible. It seemed like everywhere they turned, someone from GOE had it out for the dragons. In a way, Marc understood. They were monstrous, magical beasts that made humanity feel small.

Yet, technology had advanced so much so that if humans wanted to, they could wipe the dragons off the face of the States. There were guns and bombs and all sort of other weapons that could kill a dragon. If anything, the dragons now stood at a great disadvantage. All they wanted was peace to live their lives.

Noelle stood on the tiny porch of her tiny home and looked up into the star-studded sky above them. Marc wanted to reach out and pull her body into his. He wanted to feel her against him, warm and real. There had been many long nights when he imagined doing just that. He imagined what it would be like to touch the fiery creature. He wondered what it would feel like to lay with her.

He was sure, if he reached out just then, she would fight him off. Noelle seemed to dip all of her emotions in a thick layer of anger. Marc could see it, like a reflection of his own frustration with the world.

“I wish I was a little smarter,” Noelle confessed to the sky.

Marc’s stomach clenched. “Don’t say that about yourself.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve had days now to approach the other dragons. I could have asked any one of them about my sister, but it didn’t occur to me until I faced the wrong dragon to ask.”

“You’ve had other concerns lately.”

“That’s just it. I haven’t been thinking of my sister. I’ve been so caught up with this life I thought I had that I forgot about what I should have been doing. I should have been looking for her still.”

He knew what she was getting at. He knew the guilt. Marc hadn’t been the one to find anything about their parents. It had all been Luc’s doing, and a fluke at that. The guilt that he hadn’t looked hard enough, that their parents had been around this whole time and Marc hadn’t looked hard enough ate him from the inside out. It might have been what disrupted the calm he’d built. It shook the foundation until he could no longer hold on.

“We do what we can with what we’re given,” Marc said as he watched his mate stare into the sky. “We might stumble one day, just to get up and run the next. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Just remember to keep moving in the right direction.”

Noelle’s shoulders dropped. Her eyes remained glued on the stars above. Marc dared a glance back. There were no lights on in the house he shared with his brother and Isaac. Both had recently met their mates and drifted away from the once bachelor pad. It now stood, empty and begging for companionship.

Marc turned his mouth open to ask Noelle to join him, but he found the space she’d occupied was empty. His heart sank. Would she ever give him a chance? The kiss he’d stolen inside the car had been heart pounding. It was the first taste he’d ever gotten of his mate and it made his head spin with intoxication.

The idea of going into the great big and empty house on his own left him with a feeling of dread, so Marc let his beast surge forward. The Quetzalcoatl shimmered in the moonlight, giving one last look back at the tiny house his mate hid inside of before launching himself into the air. He would circle the territory a few times, making sure all their dragons were safe from GOE’s newfound sneaky ways, before setting into a small grove to sleep off his lust and desire.

The beast knew, without a doubt, Noelle would be theirs. The beast knew she would be theirs soon. It could smell her own desire, lingering beneath the scent Marc left on her after the kiss. That was enough to satiate the beast until he could rightfully claim her. Then, the beast would make her scream his name into the skies.

 

***

 

Noelle dug through the records stacked beneath her record player. There wasn’t enough room in this home for her music, but she kept the place because it felt portable. It felt like she could still leave if she found any hint of her sister out there in the world. Her delicate fingers plucked free a Led Zeppelin album and slid it free of its cardboard sheath.

The guitar thrummed through the walls of the small house. She’d been pleasantly surprised to find this one sitting on her porch one morning. She could pretend all she wanted that she didn’t know where it came from, but she’d smelled his scent on it, faint but undeniable. It made her set the vinyl disc onto the player with reverence.

He’d known exactly what she would have liked. He’d stayed up late and listened to the music with her as it shook her thin walls. She didn’t think she deserved a mate like him, to tell the truth. Marc was a patient and honest man who’d dealt with the brunt of her shit through the years, even though he’d known of their bond the entire time.

All she could do was try to live up to the strength and persistence that he showed. Noelle had to find her own source of serenity so that she could face the coming days. The idea that the new dragons might have known her sister shook Noelle. Of course, rescuing Lucia Avila was their first priority. They knew she was still alive. They knew there was still a chance for her.

Noelle had no idea if her sister was still even alive. Yet, her eyes turned towards the skies outside the window above her narrow bed.

Sometimes, I think he would have been good for you, Mary. I think this man the universe has given me would have benefited from the joy you pulled out of everything in the world. He doesn’t need my caustic attitude making things worse.

Noelle didn’t say the words aloud. She couldn’t find the voice to speak them, but it almost felt as though Mary could still hear her. She knew exactly what her sister would have said.

Just don’t burn the world down together and you’ll be fine. Mary would have said it with a wide smile and a gleam in her dark eyes.

What was it that was keeping Noelle from truly accepting Marc into her life? Did she feel inadequate? Did she fear the effect of her anger on him? Did she worry she might fail him? It was all of the above, but her sister would have reminded her she knew nothing until she tried.

Noelle would not know how their relationship would work until she actually gave it a chance. As much as she hated to admit it, she ached for more of the kiss they’d shared in the darkness of the car. His lips had connected with her and she’d felt the jolt of surprise slam into her core and she found herself wanting more.

Thankfully, there’d been more pressing matters. They needed to get the IDs from Norman started. He promised them a believable product, one that even GOE wouldn’t look twice at. On top of that, there hadn’t been enough room in the front of the Jeep for what Noelle found herself wanting.

The guitar solo ripped through her tiny home and Noelle found herself glancing toward the monstrosity the Avila twins called home. There were no lights on and Noelle sat up straighter. Had Marc gone straight to bed? Their night had not been that exhausting she thought. Then, her eyes drifted upward.

She caught the glimmer of iridescent scales in the moonlight drifting overhead and felt her stomach flip. Part of her wanted to go outside, give in to her own beast, and fly beside him. Both of their dragons had long, lithe bodies and it would have been thrilling to experience their bodies cording around one another through the air.

Yet, Noelle sat rooted. Fear gripped her. She didn’t want to admit it, but all the reservations she’d had earlier still lingered like rocks in her stomach. Noelle didn’t want to fail anyone else.