Legion

 

The moment I step into the Earth realm, I shift into my dragon and take to the air. The mate bond slams into me, calling me toward her with an urgency that catches me off guard. I could feel her in Tartarus but not like this.

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In this realm, the tether that connects us is a screaming siren, beckoning me toward her. I fly faster, harder, if only to burn off the lust that fills me as I imagine her following this strand of connection we share—hunting for me as if she were the predator rather than the prey.

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It's pointless to go to her.

 

And yet, that’s what I do.

 

The mate bond leads me to a small house with peeling paint and a well-tended yard. In the back, a light shines inside a shed. Despite having every reason not to, I land in the trees far enough away that she won’t hear it and slowly approach from the woods. I’m nearly at the edge of her yard when I remember I’m still naked from the shift. Doubling back through several yards, I snag a pair of pants from a clothesline and tug them on before making my way toward her home.

 

Her presence is a screaming neon sign.

 

Even from outside, I can already scent her, and it takes everything in me not to break down the door and bury myself inside her.

 

Instead, I watch her from the window.

 

Her green hair is loose and long, obscuring her face, but the curves of her body hypnotize me as she moves from plant to plant, watering, inspecting, murmuring things to each of them.

 

A killer.

 

I snort. Hardly.

 

At the sound, she jerks her face toward the window, and I rear back, melting into the shadows.

 

I wait, barely breathing.

 

The shed door opens.

 

I strain to listen for the sound of footsteps or movement, but there is only silence.

 

Too much silence.

 

I press myself against the wall, my body thrumming with lust that clouds my thoughts. My erection bulges painfully against my pants. It takes me a moment to sense anything beyond my need for her.

 

She’s a quiet hunter, I’ll give her that. On silent steps only a fae could achieve, she is suddenly standing before me. Her hair is pulled back in a tail now, revealing her face, and I find myself studying her features even while imagining what it would be like to free her hair again. To watch it curtain around her shoulders. To curl my fists around the ends and bow her head back so I can lick from her throat to her breasts.

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Her eyes meet mine, and I watch as her breath catches. Her pulse pounds harder, and I nearly drop to the ground at her feet right here and now to give her what she wants.

 

What we both want.

 

Her fist swings out, flying quicker than I would have thought her capable. I barely manage to dodge the punch, sidestepping her at the last second.

 

She glares at me.

 

I frown. This is not the greeting I expected. “Do you know who I am?”

 

“That depends on which context you’re referring to.” Her voice rakes over me, a delicious ripple of pleasure against my senses.

 

“We met,” I say, “in the city.”

 

“Oh, I remember,” she says darkly. “It’s not something I could forget, unfortunately.”

 

Unfortunately?

 

“You are my mate.”

 

“Yes, I’m aware.” She sighs. “A fact that’s equally unfortunate.”

 

Irritation stabs through me. “You would speak to your fated mate that way?”

 

“I would speak to my enemy that way,” she says icily.

 

“What makes you think I’m your enemy?”

 

“You’re a being from hell, are you not?”

 

Irritation tightens my expression.

 

“You are the monster they call the death dragon,” she presses. “An evil creature responsible for wiping out empires and killing innocents.”

 

Anger overtakes confusion. I straighten and close the distance, standing before her. She is smaller than me though she doesn’t retreat at my presence. If anything, she looks more determined—for what, I don’t know.

 

“Why did you come out here if not to give yourself to me?”

 

“Give myself to you?” She stares at me with something like disgust, and my blood boils. “Does that kind of talk really work where you’re from?” She shakes her head. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you’re the one trespassing on my property. And I didn’t come out here to screw you, asshole. I came to kill you.”

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* * *

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Tori

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His eyes flash, the dragon slits peering back at me for a blink before they become once again human irises. “What was that?” I ask.

 

“My beast is very close to the surface,” he admits.

 

“Because of the moons?”

 

“Because he wants to protect you.”

 

“You…you call yourself a shadow beast,” I say. “What exactly does that mean?”

 

More importantly, what am I getting myself into if I agree to let him help me?

 

“This world contains a dark magic that permeates everything and everyone in it. Whatever power or gifts we brought with us, the realm took those gifts and infused them with its own nature.”

 

“What nature is that?”

 

“One filled with shadows. In those shadows, we are brought closer to the spaces between life and death. We are made stronger by these shadow spaces. Or we are ruled by them.”

 

“What happens if you’re ruled by the shadows?”

 

“Madness.”

I swallow hard, fairly sure I should be frightened by that answer. “How do you keep from letting that happen?”

 

“There are several factors,” he says, watching me closely. “The most powerful of all is the primal hunt ceremony.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“A celebration where a mated couple is officially announced in front of everyone.”

 

“Chaya told me about that. It’s like a wedding, right?”

 

“Sort of.”

 

I try to decipher his expression with a growing sense of unease. “Why do I sense that it’s actually nothing like a wedding?”

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“As part of the ceremony, one mate hunts the other. When they’re caught, the mating is consummated.”

 

My mouth falls open. “In front of everyone?”

 

“The hunt usually takes place in the woods, but yes.”

 

My mind reels back, searching for a safer topic, but there really isn’t one. Not in this line of questioning. “And if you don’t claim your mate or complete the primal hunt or whatever… you go mad?”

 

“I am stronger than the shadows, little assassin. Immortal and unkillable. It will take much more than a dark nature to bring me down.”

 

I shudder, despite his reassurances, caught up in the twisted picture he’s painting. It feels like a lot of pressure, suddenly, to help keep him sane. Not to mention the whole public sex thing.

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“Okay,” I whisper. “I’ll let you help me.”

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