“Three, four thousand years, maybe. No one really knows. Or his real name, for that matter,” Mikkel says. As his dark gaze pins me again, his eyes flash cinnamon red and copper besides. I feel it as his massive drake slithers around inside him now, hot to see me.
Just as hot as I am to see him.
I feel our dragons rub past each other, then, in a deep mate-taste, just like before. Scintillating and wild, the sensation shudders me to my bones as his scalding, dark scales glide past mine. We’re not even touching; neither Mikkel nor Lærke have offered to shake hands this time. But as my drakaina sparks with hot desire all through me, rushing through my veins like bright lava now, I feel my dark inner drake rise.
Both my magics want Mikkel Thorsen—but my Bone Magic wants him like the tides want the moon as it surges up high inside me, obliterating me with its starry void of night. I’ve never been able to pinpoint his scent before; it comes to me now, subtle yet intoxicating, like a wickedly strong kick-your-ass herbal cocktail with exotic bitters in it.
It’s heady and strong, as power thunders between us. Our beasts of magic brush each other close as we devour each other’s scents. A hard thunderclap of magic suddenly hits the air, as Mikkel’s Bone Magic drake rushes at me. I feel it twine me up into its dark, luscious coils as a furious, commanding energy blisters all through me from Mikkel’s hundred megawatt personality.
Like a blast of illicit uppers, power and passion surge through my system, making everything inside me roar. As a scalding wave of white, red, and gold Bloodwind whirls from me, my dual magics united in howmuch they want Mikkel, I’m ready to throw down in a fuck or a fight with him.
And probably both.
Just then, Bjorn and Ström’s hands seize me—preventing me from rushing to Mikkel and just jumping on him, straddling him like a monkey. Because that’s what we were about to do, as red clears from my vision and I quickly come back to myself.
Not only are Bjorn and Ström holding me back from rushing Mikkel, but Lærke and our bouncer have an iron grip on Mikkel now, holding him back from jumping me. His eyes are flaring entirely copper and cinnamon, hot, as power crashes from him in waves.
Those waves are dark, bright, burning, and cold all at once; the craziest party and drowning, even as they’re unstoppable. It’s everything my Bloodwalker power needs to bring my Bone Magic to full maturity inside me.
I know it now, as I feel our resonating magics roar, dark and wrathfully strong, even as they are blisteringly heady. Ström is a talented Bone Mage, but what I’m feeling from Mikkel is not even close in its raw, insane might.
I realize then why Mikkel moves five thousand miles a minute, as he heaves hard breaths and fights to not shift now before me and I do the same. Because his dragon is just that powerful.
And could give me so much, if I let it.
As if confirming my thought, Aesa’s Truthstone blazes upon my chest now. I feel her white-gold light seethe inside me with a scalding flash of red; it staggers me as she confirms what my instinct already told me—that Mikkel should be mine, and I his.
But I don’t want Mikkel as a mate; and it’s clear he doesn’t want me either, as he fights to regain control of himself. I feel him wrestle all that magnificent power back as he clears his throat—even as I corral my own power down to a simmer inside my bones and veins. Shaking his head,Mikkel hauls himself upright, then removes his arms from his sister and his club bouncer.
“I’m fine. Release me, it’s nothing.”
Though his gaze comes back to me—pinning me like firebrands as his power still fights to taste me.
“Bullshit,” Lærke says, even as I regain control of myself with some deep breathing, Bjorn and Ström both flooding their power into me to stabilize this resonance with Mikkel. Lærke’s gaze pins me, furious. “She wants you; she wants to claim you and undo everything we’ve built here as you go gallivanting off on whatever mission she’s got for you, just like she did these two drakes.” Lærke nods at Ström and Bjorn with a snort.
And I suddenly understand why she’s pissed at me.
“I’m no threat to your empire, Lærke Thorsen,” I say solidly now, as I’m finally able to remove my arms from my drakes. My magics are mostly under control again, Aesa’s stone quieting in my chest, though I feel my twin dragons’ glittering eyes still watching Mikkel like food as I smooth my hands down my tight ruched cocktail dress. I give Lærke Thorsen my severest eyeball. “I don’t want your brother as a Bloodmate. End of story.”
“What? You don’t?” As Lærke blinks at me, her pale eyebrows shooting up in surprise, I see the crestfallen look that dashes across Mikkel’s face. It’s so quick, I might have imagined it.
Except for the matching dip I feel in his insane devil-may-care energy for the briefest moment.
“Mikkel’s not my style.” I pin him with my gaze, letting the fury of my drakaina be felt now, even as I hold the hot, sexy part back. “I don’t take pirates as mates.”
“Pirates?” It’s Mikkel’s turn for his eyebrows to shoot up, though it comes with a grin and a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m a Proprietor, not a pirate.”
“You know what you are.” I jut my chin at him as I give it to him straight.
“Yes. I know what I am. And I have made manywalk the plank,” Mikkel says with a darker smirk now as he basically admits he’s killed a lot of people for crossing him. He may be a gentleman pirate, but I still know what he is—a bastard.
His roaring energy is still careening around us, however, making me want to lose control and take a big ol’ taste, or a big snort up my nose. Like a drug, I know Mikkel’s power is something I couldn’t quit if I ever got started.
So I best not start—ever.
My drakes hold me grounded now, as they understand I’ve made my choice. Mikkel doesn’t unleash his dragon to mate-taste me again; for some reason, he’s as reticent to bond me as I am him. He gives me a deep nod now, as if aware of our unspoken agreement.
We just have to keep reminding our dragons who’s boss, as they continue to try to slide past each other, and lunge at each other. As Mikkel’s power comes too close to mine now, I feel the entirety of my melded Bloodwalker drakaina flash out and take a bite. He grunts, his dark eyelashes flickering as he sways, like it was both erotic and painful, as I haul back my power.
