Ice stood in a field with burned patches of grass all around her.
In between further energetic bouts of fucking, Nathan and Dominic had taken her training up a level. Nathan faced her and smiled.
“You can do this, beautiful. Remember the emotions you felt when that bastard attacked you. Channel them.”
He held his wrist out. Ice stared at it, fear coiling inside. She might really hurt him.
As if reading her thoughts, he caressed her cheek. “You can’t hurt me. My magic can block the pain, and you need the practice.”
He pushed his arm toward her again.
With a deep breath, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist. She closed her eyes and took herself back to that bit of deserted scrub land and the horrible moments when the vile man pulled her into a clump of bushes. She called up all her fear and anger and held on to Nathan. His skin started to glow red. She tried to stop it, but it only burned brighter.
Oh no, it was happening again. She couldn’t turn it off.
“Don’t let go, Ice. Hold on a bit longer.”
Her breath came in panicked huffs.
“Okay. Listen to me.” Nathan’s voice penetrated her haze of anxiety and soothed her. She focused on what he said. “Keep holding on, but think of water. Cool and refreshing water, flowing down a mountainside. Picture it. Hear it. Smell it. Splashes of it hitting your skin, all icy and refreshing.”
As he talked, Ice focused on his words and tried to conjure up the images he provoked. Nothing changed for a short while, and when she glanced at his wrist, the red had deepened. When it seemed as if they’d both burst into flames, one of her mental images formed into something more solid. A waterfall, rushing over rocks and stones, it grew in strength until she swore she heard the roar; felt it soothing-cool upon her skin. The bright glow died away until nothing remained.
Nathan laughed and said, “You did it. Now you understand how to turn it off. You’ll eventually do so at will. Before you let your fire to the surface, with enough practice.”
She didn’t have long left here at the settlement, only a day or two before she had to return to her life, start training, and get ready for the championship. As she focused on the place she’d spent so long working to reach, it suddenly didn’t seem as important anymore.
Not able to think about leaving without a sick sensation in the pit of her belly, she pushed the thought away.
Unable to stand the unfamiliar anxiety she focused her all on trying to master her magic.
“This time practice on the grass.” Nathan pointed to the ground. “Place your hands on the ground, and let your fire build.”
“What if I set the whole field alight?”
He pulled her to him and brushed a whisper soft kiss over her lips. “I can turn it off.”
“Okay,” she acquiesced.
She once more dredged up the painful memories, until she sensed the familiar build of the heat deep in her body. Hands to the grass she let the stalks burn. Wow! It felt powerful to control something as elemental as fire. Once the flames started to lick higher, she called forth her waterfall. Holding her palms over the grass, she focused on damping down the fire. Moments later, it went out.
“Oh, my!” She squealed and jumped in the air, clapping her hands in joy.
Nathan grabbed her in a fierce hug. “Yes, you did it. I knew you could.”
“Honestly?”
“Ice. I sense you are a powerful dragon. You may be latent but your magic is strong. I have so much faith in you.”
His words touched her, soul deep. Having someone believe in her so completely warmed her heart.
“Hopefully, you’ll soon be at the point where you can stop it at will, in a second. The next stage is to call it up on command the moment you need it. Quick and efficient.” Nathan snapped his fingers. “On, off, like a switch.”
Ice grinned. She loved finally seeing a way to take charge of her power and loved how Dom and Nathan were the ones who gave her this gift. Truly, the best present she’d ever received. Without the fear of her strange talent, she’d be free to open up more. Live properly and fully participate in the world. At this, her brow furrowed and she bit her bottom lip. Which world? That became her million dollar question. Where did she want to be? Back at home in her small flat with her okay, but not amazing, editing career, and her fighting? She’d only one true friend, and other than her parents, no family.
Or did she want to be here? Amongst her people. She grew closer to Dom and Nathan each day, and her attraction to them burned stronger with the passing minutes. She also began to like them…a lot. Dom made her laugh and they shared a fondness for video games. Nathan shared her love of books and exercise. They went running together, and he’d sparred with her once, which Dom informed her showed how much he wanted to make her welcome. Females didn’t fight with males, but she’d wanted it and so Nathan made it happen.
“I’m exhausted.” She rolled her shoulders and turned off her internal dialogue. Tired of her mental toing and froing on the subject. “I fancy a warm bath.”
They walked down the hill toward home. Once there, Nathan filled the tub for her, before heading off in search of Dominic. She grabbed her music dock and placed it on the counter, selected Norah Jones and pressed play. Norah’s smoky voice echoed around the tiled room, and Ice stripped and climbed into the warm water with a groan.
She dozed in the bath, letting the mellow music soothe her, along with the rose scented water. Teresa had given her a bottle of rose oil as a gift the other day, and Ice adored the smell. After a while, the water cooled and her skin started to prune. She clambered out and wrapped a fluffy towel around her body. Her sex felt swollen and achy as she patted herself dry.
They’d been playing around for the last two days. Ever since they’d had sex as a threesome, they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off one another. This last time, Nathan fucked her while Dom took her anally. Never a big fan of anal sex the few times she’d tried it before, this time it rocked her world. Whether it came from having the two of them inside her at once, or the whole weird, crazy feedback loop of expanding lust vibrating between them, she didn’t know, or care.
When she opened the bathroom door, she froze. Dom and Nathan lay on the bed and Dominic stroked Nathan’s arm, his blue eyes smoldering.
“I’ve been thinking…a lot.” His voice reached her, low and gruff, as he spoke. “I don’t think I want this to happen with us. I know I want it.”
She couldn’t see Nathan’s face, but his shoulders lifted and his back expanded as he took in a deep breath.
“Have for a long time, if I’m honest. It’s all new to me, though, and I’ve been scared.”
Nathan finally spoke. “No need to be scared.”
“Yeah.” Dom gave a soft smile. “There kind of is. You’re you. So full of…you.”
“Which makes no sense,” Nathan replied.
It made sense to her. Nathan possessed all this power. It fair rolled from him. You sensed him enter a room before you saw him. If he got angry, the air around him crackled with it. Nathan wasn’t loud or brash, but he dominated the space around him without saying a word.
“I know what I mean.” Dom smiled.
“Come here.” Nathan pulled Dominic into him.
They kissed one another, languid at first, but it soon heated up and became hard and passionate.
She watched, fascinated. Teeth nipped and clashed, and tongues dueled. It looked demanding and harsh, and sexy as hell.
“I’m going to suck you.” Nathan straddled Dom, pushing him back on the bed, and gentling him with soft touches and whispers, as if Dom was a colt about to bolt.
For a moment, Nathan stayed focused on his face, kissing Dom and nibbling along his jaw, but then he moved down his body, still taking it slow.
Ice didn’t know what to do with herself. Sure, the show was nice, but maybe they needed privacy. This moment had been a long time coming.
She edged out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom door, intending to grab the robe hanging there and go and watch TV or read for a while.
As she passed by the bed, Nathan, now at Dom’s belly, paused. He looked up, pinning her with his dark gaze. “Don’t go.”
“No. Don’t go.” Dom echoed Nathan.
She clambered onto the bed and laid beside Dom, slightly higher than him on the mattress, and watched Nathan dip his head back to his task.
Fascinated by the way Nathan worshipped the plains and dips of Dom’s stomach, she jumped when his fingers touched her, right at her core. Nathan stroked her as he kept up his tasting of Dom’s flesh.
She couldn’t believe how free she’d become with these men. She’d wandered out of the bathroom totally naked, and happily hopped into bed with them. Before these guys, she’d always pulled her clothes on after she’d finished having sex.
With a quick glance up at them, Nathan dipped his dark head again and licked a long, slow stripe up Dom’s flushed erection.
“Oh fuck.” Dom arched his back and slammed one hand into the mattress.
Nathan hummed in reply and swallowed Dom in one smooth move. Wow! Nathan deep throated Dom as if it were nothing.
Dom’s eyes fluttered closed and his mouth opened as he moaned, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Ice let out a whimper when Nathan stopped playing and plunged two fingers deep inside her.
Dom’s hand gripped the bedsheet tight beside her and she reached out to entwine their fingers. They held on tight as Nathan took them to the edge. She turned her head, her gaze colliding with Dom’s in a shared moment of understanding. They were in it together. They felt something deep for one another, and for the powerful male playing them like musical instruments.
“Shit…I’m gonna come.” Dom hitched his hips, and Nathan intensified his efforts until Dominic came with a cry.
The sight and sound of Dominic coming helped Ice find her release, and she clenched around Nathan’s fingers, crying out.
When they both came down, she laughed out loud. “Holy hell. We are going to kill one another. We haven’t done anything but have sex, in a variety of ways, for days now.”
“Are you complaining?” Dom nudged her and winked.
“Not complaining.” Her stomach rumbled. “I could eat though.”
“Nathan needs taking care of first,” Dom said.
“Nathan can wait.” The man in question hefted himself up on his big arms and hovered over them.
Ice watched the flex of his triceps as he held himself up, fists planted on the bed.
“Let us feed our female first, and then we can come back for more fun.”
Their female! Those words should not wrap themselves around her heart the way they did. Somehow, over the last couple of days, Ice lost a bit of herself to these two men…these dragons! And it scared her but also exhilarated her.
During the few moments she’d been not having sex with her guys, she’d spent some time with Teresa. She’d also met another female named Karina, who she’d clicked with straight away. Each day she practiced control of her magic with Nathan, and every day she grew more able to create the same burning heat she’d used on the man who’d attacked her. It took her a while, but she hoped eventually it would come as quickly to her as the times she’d called it forth by accident. Nathan said that once she created it at will, she could stop it at will. This meant of course she’d be free to go home back to her life, and hopefully not ever risk harming someone in the same way again. The question now became, did she want to? Or did she spend more time here, learning about her people?
Her people! The phrase caused her stomach to somersault. For someone who’d never belonged to anyone, not truly, it did a number on her. It made her yearn for things she’d never dared to hope for.
“Come on,” Nathan said with a gentle slap to her thigh. “Let’s get you some food.”
After eating, Ice decided she wanted to practice her magic alone. So she headed back to the field, carrying a backpack full of water bottles—just in case. The way Nathan had poured his all into teaching her gave her heart a lift every time she thought about it. Would she ever meet one man who cared about her as much as these two did back out there in the world?
She’d nothing to go back for in any meaningful sense, but she’d created a life for herself and it hadn’t been easy to forge. Walking away from it didn’t come easy, either. Her sense of determination to see it through kept niggling at her. But then again, she’d a chance to live where she belonged and it was…priceless. The phrase ‘her people’ ricocheted around her head over and over.
An hour later and she smiled at the patches of burned grass dotted all around. All the fires had been put out by her mind alone, the bottled water still unopened. She grabbed her backpack, hoisted it over her shoulders and headed back home. Home! Yeah, it seemed she wanted to be here.
She made a decision. She’d stay for longer. Maybe a few months, and see how things went. She could work from here. But she’d train at the settlement, persuade Nathan to help her, and still turn up to fight in the championship. Even if she never fought again afterwards, she’d give it her all to win the amateur championship, and Nathan needed to bloody well accept that.
Ice reached the top of the hill with a weight lifted from her shoulders. She’d box her stuff and store it at her parents.
Her arms swung with happiness, her step and heart light. Below, a couple of large off-road vehicles pulled up outside Nathan and Dom’s house. A group of men and women climbed out and headed into the house. More people to meet probably. She hurried down the slope, but it still took her five minutes to get there.
Ten pairs of eyes swiveled her way as she entered the dining room, to see the group sat around the large table. Nathan and Dom gave her the soft look they’d started to wear around her. The others though! Eight unfamiliar faces gawped at her. At first, they stared with round, shocked eyes. One of the women gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Then one by one, the eyes of every stranger narrowed.
Dom frowned and looked from Ice to their guests and back again. Nathan’s jaw set tight and he sat up straighter in his seat, making himself larger. Something strange filled the air. Something she didn’t understand.
“So it is true. Addie told us you held a Havsa here. You harbor one of our sworn enemies yet act like our friends?” The red-haired female who’d gasped spoke, her voice cold.
“I beg your pardon?” Nathan returned.
“Her.” This came from a greying gent with a handsome face. She imagined it normally looked kind, but right now, it held a murderous expression.
“Do not speak of our mate-match in this way,” Dom said.
More sharp gasps filled the air.
“You’re joking.” A blond male at the end of the table shook his head. “You’re taking a piece of Havsa trash as a mate?”
Nathan jerked to a stand, his chair crashing to the floor behind him. He advanced on the man who’d spoken.
“Don’t.” The older gent was instantly between them, his hand splayed on Nathan’s chest.
“Move your hand, Robert. Right now.” Though Nathan spoke to the elder man, his ferocious gaze never left the blond. “He dares to speak of my mate with such impudent disrespect. I am well within my rights to teach him some manners.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, anyway?” Dom chimed in. “There are no Havsa left.”
“Holy gods of the highest order, protect us all.” A brunette female made an odd sign over her chest and bowed her head.
“Have you all gone fucking insane?” Dom roared.
“Watch your mouth.” Robert still held his hand to Nathan’s chest, but he glared at Dom.
“You watch your mouth. All of you,” Nathan shot back.
“Do you think we’d ever forget the face of our enemy? The way they looked?” the redhead said. She narrowed her eyes. “You know the legends, the stories. A people with eyes so astonishing you’d never forget them. Dark hair, like the night sky. Olive skin, and then those eyes, pale and startling like a tropical sea. She’s got the exact same coloring.”
Dom snorted, but the female didn’t shut up. “I saw them. I saw them first-hand. That bone structure, the way they held themselves. Such an unusual people, so striking. Yet, so very evil. And she is one of them. I’d put money on it. You may laugh, Dominic, but Nathan you know the legends.”
“Legends aren’t facts, Ellie,” Nathan said.
“Dark hair and light eyes is hardly rare.” Dom put in, with a lazy wave at his face.
“Not eyes her color. I’ve never seen eyes that color. Except on her relatives, when half her clan came and raided mine. Raped the females, took some and killed them.”
Ice’s heart battered her ribs. She’d heard the tales of the Havsa, and their legendary cruelty. Could it be true? If so, it meant Nathan and Dom, Teresa, and all the others, weren’t her people. No, her people were the scum of the earth, vile rapists and murderers. She shook where she stood.
“You all need to leave.” Nathan brushed Roberts hand away with an annoyed huff.
“Yeah, get gone,” Dom snapped. “Coming here with crazy talk about our mate.”
“You can’t mate with her.” The redhead pointed at Ice, her eyes blazing with rage. “If you do, it’s a declaration of war.”
“She. Is. Not. Havsa. Get it through your thick heads.” Dom threw his hands to the heavens and then dropped them to his sides in a sign of pure exasperation.
“Really?” Robert spoke, low and deadly. “She’s not Scottish clan, and clearly not Welsh…so where is she from?”
His brown eyes regarded her coldly. “Where do you hail from?”
Ice couldn’t speak. Awful, terrible thoughts filled her head. Murderers, rapists, and abductors those were her people? No, please God no.
“They were wiped out!” Dom shouted at Robert. “All of them. Wiped the fuck out, so how can she be Havsa?”
“I don’t know, but she is. Ellie is correct.” Robert indicated the redhead. “You don’t forget such a thing.”
“It makes no sense.” Dom ran a hand over his jaw.
“Leave.” Nathan uttered the word on a snarl. “All of you. Leave. Now.”
“Are you sure? If you hand her over, no harm, no foul. Throw us out—and it is an act of war.” The bitch-face redhead spoke again and Ice wanted to smack her in the mouth.
“Seriously?” Nathan’s eyes registered his shock. “We’ve had peace for well over a hundred years, but you’d declare war because of a resemblance. Despite the fact that your clan wiped theirs out. Totally. So you know she can’t be one of them.”
“Yes!” The malice gleaming from the redhead’s eyes sent a shiver through Ice’s soul.
“DNA test her,” Robert muttered.
“What?” Nathan bit off the word.
“We have Havsa remains. We can DNA test them. Give us her DNA and we’ll see if it matches.”
“Absolutely not.” Nathan answered without hesitation.
Her stomach dropped away into freefall. In that moment, she knew. She knew. Nathan believed them. He’d do anything to protect her, but he believed it.
“You have remains, yeah, but they’re well over a century old, and burned to bits. You can’t extract DNA surely?” Dom shook his head.
“You can if you preserve them properly. Anyway, we won’t use human methods…we’ll use magic. If she is Havsa, she has to die.” Ellie’s eyes glowed an odd shade, as if lit from behind.
The room erupted, and Ice crept away. She needed to get help for Nathan and Dom before some sort of dragon war broke out. Then she needed to get the fuck out of here.
She ran to Teresa’s house and banged on the door. When Teresa answered it, Ice babbled, tripping over her words. But by the time they were headed back to Nathan and Dom’s, she’d called the Council leader and asked her to bring the entire council to Nathan’s as soon as possible.
“I’m so sorry if I’ve brought trouble down on you guys. I never meant to,” Ice said, her heart tearing.
“You’ve done nothing, my child, and don’t let anyone persuade you otherwise.”
Utter mayhem met them in the entranceway. Nathan had Robert pushed up against the wall. Dom held two other males back, and the females were all talking at once.
“Quiet,” Teresa shouted. “We all need to calm ourselves and talk this through. With saner heads. We can’t let a war break out. Come, please, let’s discuss this rationally.”
Nathan let go of Robert and turned toward her, but Ice held her hands up. “Please go with Teresa. I’m okay, honest. But I won’t be if a war breaks out over me. I’m going to go and read in my room.” She forced a smile on her face, and hoped it reached her eyes. “You can come find me after, fill me in on the details.”
Nathan studied her face, and she used every bit of her training to keep her heart steady and her eyes warm. His gaze lingered on her for long moments before he gave a brief nod, touched his lips to hers, then stalked after the others.
Once they rounded the corner, Ice ran to her room and threw things in her bag.
Maybe it had been a nice dream for a while, but it ended now. No way would she be responsible for putting Nathan and Dom or Teresa or anyone else in Arach Caim in danger. She should have known. She didn’t belong. Anywhere.