I’d been half cactused when they’d forced me to shift to human. Apparently, their “bring the bloke in alive” order hadn’t extended to “alive and unblemished.” Xumi’s damned Dragon bludger had come close to cracking my head open on that bleedin’ wall.
I’d always been told I had a hard head. Bloody glad to see it was the truth.
As I hung from the chains attached to my wrists, I ran through an inventory. My shift to human might have healed my cracked ribs, but it had also aggravated the slices left by the Dragon’s tailspikes. And I had a lot of those.
One look at Talakai, however, and I knew I’d gotten off easy.
I hadn’t been prepared for my reaction upon seeing him. The fierce joy of finding him alive, followed by a strong sense of belonging, as though I’d finally reconnected to a vital part of myself.
But as my gaze trailed over him, it was swiftly replaced by rage.
His wings were arched and spread above his human body—and they’d been hung by vicious hooks that ripped through the membranes. His skin was raw as crap—when I traced the few scales remaining on him, I realized that many cuts were spots where the scales had been torn clear off. And everywhere on him were signs of talons, slicing him open.
I’d deliberately avoided looking at the Dragon when I’d mentally spoken with Anna. I didn’t want her to see what had been done to him. She was too close, even now, to turning around and taking a run at Xumi all by herself.
The place was bustling with Dragons and other species the underlord used as staff, and they were clearly packing things up. Made sense—Xumi wasn’t likely to stick around after all this.
Talakai ignored them as his metallic eyes fixed on mine.
“If you want to live, you’ll have to give Xumi what she wants,” he said.
I waggled my brows at him. “The sheilas always want something from me.”
He stared. “What are sheilas?”
“Women.”
His brows lowered. “Yeah, well, if you don’t give this one what she wants, she’ll throw you to her guards. And you won’t survive that.”
Well, that didn’t sound like fun at all. “What does she want?”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. It took him a bit to answer, and when he did so, I had to strain to hear him. “A fight. And then sex.”
I raised a brow. “The first I can give her. The second is a problem.”
“If you don’t give it to her, she will kill you—or worse.” There was no doubt in his voice.
“It isn’t something I can control,” I pointed out.
Now he just looked confused. Assassin training obviously wasn’t an all inclusive shifter culture tour. I offered a hint. “I mentioned Anna and I bonded?”
His gaze skittered to the doorway and then back to me. “You say that like it should mean something—I know about the telepathy.”
I sighed. “Look, mate, I don’t know how it works for Dragons, but for Dires, once you’re bonded, that’s it. It’s not a matter of ignoring other women. You belong to only one.”
The dark brows twitched. “You mean—”
“Yeah. I couldn’t screw Xumi even if I wanted to.”
Now he looked alarmed. Which sent a shiver through me that I fought to hide.
“You don’t understand. That’s—huge. I’m serious—if she can’t get you to lose control over your dick, you’re dead. It’s that simple.”
My gaze rose to his mangled wings. “She doesn’t just get off on the pain?”
Talakai took a deep breath. “The pain is merely the foreplay.”
Something in his voice had me looking more closely at him, but his metallic eyes skittered away from me, and he fell silent once more.
