Chapter 2 TWO
The silence in the auction hall was
absolute, a physical weight pressing
down on me. Every supernatural eye felt like a laser burning into my
skin. The vampire in the front row
took a single, fluid step in my
direction, his pale face a mask of
cold fury.
Then the dragon—Kaelen—moved.
The silver chains on his wrists
snapped apart like they were made
of glass. A shimmer of heat
distorted the air around him as he
rose to his full, imposing height.
The guards on the platform lunged
forward, but he didn't even look at
them. A mere flick of his wrist sent
a concussive wave of force that
threw them back into the velvet
curtains.
Chaos erupted.
The gaunt man from the elevator
was suddenly at my side, his grip
like iron on my arm. "This way.
Now." He didn't ask, he
commanded, pulling me backward
through the bronze elevator doors
just as they began to slide shut. I
caught one last glimpse of the
chamber: Kaelen, now surrounded by a corona of shimmering gold
light, and the vampire, his form
blurring into a streak of darkness,
leaping toward the stage.
The elevator shot upward. My
stomach lurched.
"What have you done?" the gaunt
man hissed, his wintery eyes wide
with something that looked like fear.
"Do you have any idea who that
was? What you have taken from
Silas Vane?"
"I—" My voice was a dry croak. I
had no words. I had just spent a
sum of money I could never
comprehend to buy a mythical
creature. A creature who was
currently unleashing hell
downstairs.
The elevator chimed. The
antechamber. The gaunt man
shoved me toward the black door
leading to the rainy alley. "Run.
Don't look back. Don't stop. If you
value your fleeting human life, you
will forget this place, forget
everything you saw."
I stumbled out into the cold, wet
night. The rain was a blessing,
washing the scent of sandalwood
and power from my skin. I ran. I
didn't know where I was going. My
apartment was out of the question.
Elara's hospital? Too obvious. I was
a mouse who had just stolen a lion
from a pack of wolves, and now the
entire forest was hunting me.
I ducked into the recessed doorway
of a closed butcher shop, my breath
coming in ragged, sobbing gasps. I
pressed my back against the cold
metal shutter, trying to become
small, invisible. The $187,432.17
debt felt like a quaint, distant
memory. I had just created a
problem infinitely larger.
A shadow fell over me.
I flinched, expecting the gaunt man,
or the vampire, or a squad of police.
It was him.
Kaelen stood at the mouth of the
alley, the rain seeming to steam off his bare shoulders. He had found a
long, dark coat from somewhere,
but it hung open, doing little to hide
his powerful frame or the fact that
he was still shirtless beneath it. His
molten gold eyes found me in the
darkness, pinning me in place.
He moved toward me with a
predator's grace, utterly silent. He
didn't stop until he was mere inches
away, the heat radiating from his
body a stark contrast to the chill
night air. He smelled of smoke, of
ozone, of ancient stone and wild,
open skies.
He reached out, and I flinched
again. But his hand didn't strike me.
Instead, his fingers, surprisingly
gentle, brushed a strand of wet hair
from my face. His touch sent
another electric jolt through my
system, a confusing mix of terror
and something else, something
warm and primal.
"You," he said, his voice a low
rumble that vibrated in my bones.
"You are full of surprises, little
mouse."
"I... I let you go," I stammered,
pressing myself harder against the
metal shutter. "The debt is mine.
We're even. Just go."
A faint, dangerous smile touched
his lips. "Even? You think this is a
transaction? A simple exchange of
currency for goods?" He leaned in
closer, his voice dropping to a
whisper. "You did not simply buy
me, human. You claimed me. By the
laws of my kind, the one who wins
my freedom, who pays the bloodprice, is bound to me. And I, to
them."
My blood ran cold. "Bound? What
does that mean?"
"It means, little mouse, that you are
now my Fated Mate."
The words hung in the air between
us, absurd and terrifying. "That's...
that's insane. I'm human. You're a...
a dragon. That's a myth, a story!"
"Is it?" he murmured. His gaze
intensified, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. For a split second,
I didn't see the alley. I saw a vast,
star-strewn sky from a great height,
felt the powerful beat of wings that
were not my own, and smelled the
crisp, thin air of a mountain peak.
The vision vanished as quickly as it
came, leaving me gasping.
"The bond is already forming," he
stated, as if commenting on the
weather. "It will only grow stronger.
Our fates are now intertwined.
Which means," his smile vanished,
replaced by a look of grim finality,
"that Silas Vane will not stop until
he has reclaimed what he sees as
his property. And he will tear you
apart to get to me."
He straightened up, his eyes
scanning the rooftops. "We cannot
stay here. They will be coming."
Panic seized me anew. "We? There
is no 'we'! I have a sister. She's sick.
I have a life!"
"You had a life," he corrected me,
his tone leaving no room for
argument. "That life is over. The only thing that matters now is
survival. My survival, and yours.
They are one and the same." He
offered me his hand. It was a large,
powerful hand, capable of terrible
destruction. "Come."
I looked from his hand to his face,
to the impossible reality he
represented. I thought of Elara, safe
in her hospital bed, unaware that
her sister had just thrown a grenade
into both their lives. If I went with
him, I was stepping into a world of
monsters and magic. If I stayed, I
was dead.
The wail of a distant siren cut
through the night, growing rapidly
closer. Kaelen's eyes narrowed.
"Choose now, mouse. Freedom with
me, or a cage—or a coffin—with
them."
Trembling, my heart pounding a
frantic rhythm of pure terror, I
reached out and placed my hand in
his.
His fingers closed around mine,
warm and unyielding. Instead of leading me out to the street, he
pulled me deeper into the alley,
toward a dead-end wall covered in
graffiti.
"This is a dead end!" I protested.
He didn't answer. He placed his free
hand against the grimy brickwork
and whispered a single, guttural
word that seemed to make the air
itself vibrate. The bricks
shimmered, their solidity wavering
like a mirage, revealing not a wall,
but a swirling, opaque darkness.
"The world is full of doors, Lena
Vance," he said, and I started at the
sound of my name. "You just have
to know how to open them."
With a final glance at the rainy,
familiar world I was leaving behind,
he pulled me forward, into the
unknown dark.