THE SECRET OF THE ALPHA DRAGON'S MARK

THE SECRET OF THE ALPHA DRAGON'S MARK
SENECA VEYLOR'S POV

RILEY WAS barely breathing.

My chest seized from the sudden slackness. 

One second her fingers had been digging into my chest as she clung for her dear life and then, the next, before I crossed the threshold back to the arena, her breath had slowed and her hand dropped. 

I tilted my head, fighting to feel her shallow, tiny gasps against my chin. 

She was completely limp, passed out, a dead weight against my body as my feet hit the first step down the aisle.

The screams and cheers in the arena died out the instant I emerged: like someone turbo struck a mute button.

In contrast to when I'd been running up, the humans paved the path now, hushed inquisitive whispers beneath their breaths.

“Who is she?”

“Girlfriend?”

“....too small to be a Demon.”

“Then, who is she?”

“Oh… wait there's another one?”

Right on cue, the Malrik came after me with Orion's shrieking  flung over his shoulder as she cursed and trashed.

As expected, phones went up, flashes against our faces, in hundreds and thousands. I knew it was amusing to the humans that I cared for a human, cradled her against my chest even.

The timing was a catastrophe. After Vorath’s death, there had been endless rumors about who the new heir would be for the east. I was meant to reveal my breeder at the Mating Ritual, not like this. Not panicked, bloodied, and exposed.

Lips spread apart, people whispered words that weren't hushed enough. It was a wave of breathless, terrified speculation:

“Human, but he stopped the whole League game for her. He stopped the game.”

“Are those the women who will be birthing the new heirs for the Easts? Are they the Queens?”

The players on the ice paused mid swing, mid skate, mid win… and just watched in confusion. 

Orion too.

Across the rink, he glowered at the realisation that his breeder—who he had most definitely been in cohort with to take out Riley—had been apprehended.

He didn't take a step forward. 

To claim or defend her. 

He stood there, burning holes into both I and Malrik while the girl screamed endlessly for him as we walked towards the exit.

“I'm being set up! Master, look at me…look at my arm! I swear, she attacked me first! I'm the victim here! This was self defense. Master, please help me! MASTER help!”

Yet.. he didn't step forward.

But I was unbothered by his lack of response to his breeder’s apprehension… instead panic bubbled in my chest.

Riley was barely breathing.

Guilt, anger, self loath all smothered me at once. 

The cut above her eye looked bad now. 

It was a deep gash leaking blood that was already drying over her forehead and temples. I felt a hot, bad fever coming off her skin and instantly knew the drink I’d sent through Ziarah hadn't worked.

Her skin burned still.

Her eyes were pressed shut tightly. 

Her chest heaved in sporadic short spasms of breath.

I wanted to heal her—the wound on her head, the fever, the burns on her wrist—immediately. But being a demon was more a curse than a privilege. 

My brothers and I had carried this curse long enough to know that everything offered came with a price. 

Nothing a devil gives is ever free. 

A Dragon Dominus could only heal an extension of themselves. 

A breeder only became that extension once bonded with the mark. Unless I was bonded to Riley and she carried my mark… whatever healing I could render was a temporal relief. 

And for twelve years, I'd held back from putting the Alpha Dragon mark on anyone after the first time. 

Because right now, if I healed her…

Riley would be the one paying the price.

History would repeat itself. 

But, I knew I couldn’t stall any longer. 

I. Needed. To. Put. My. Mark. On. Riley.



I tried.

I swear I tried. 

But I still couldn’t do it. 

I couldn’t put the Alpha Dragon mark on her.

In her bed, my teeth grazed her left shoulder softly. Just a graze. Enough to taste the sweat and feel her warmth, but it had been enough to send a jolt of ecstasy humming through my veins. 

I groaned against her, breath shaking, vision dim around the edges. 

I wanted to. 

I wanted to bite hard and sink deep enough to draw blood.  

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My hands were on either side of her head, fingers digging into the pillow, trembling so hard I thought the damn bed would break. 

But before I could try again, she stirred with a whimper. 

“Riv… Riv help.”

My teeth froze. 

My eyes flickered open. 

I pulled back slowly, brows tugged in confusion. 

Her lashes never lifted. 

Her body didn’t move. 

Blood crusted along her forehead, temple, cheeks and jaw.  She was miles beneath the surface of her mind, trapped in a memory or a nightmare…

Yet her lips kept moving.

I leaned in, breath shallow, listening.

“I’m scared….” She burst out in small soft whimpers. “.. I don’t know how to use this.” 

I listened. 

I wanted to understand. 

Kaelith didn’t.

He snarled in my head, patience thinning.

“Put the fucking mark on her now!”

I clenched my jaw. 

“I can’t.”

“WHY?”

“She's not awake. She can't give consent.”  

“Does it matter?”

“You know it does to me.”

For a while, ‘lith kept quiet and there was a numbing silence where his roar had been. 

Then, suddenly. 

“You’re just stalling, aren’t you?”

I said nothing in response.

“We almost lost her today, if you don’t put the mark on her now, we really will next time.” 

I watched her trembling lips.

“Riv, Riv, Riv… Riv.”

Recurrently, weakly, the same name. 

My vision blurred.

‘Lith pestered on. “Just mark her, heal her and get her pregnant when she's conscious. That is all we need. Once we have our heir, she can rot in chains. Just mark her now, Seneca, please!”

My entire body trembled.

I wanted her. 

I wanted her just as viciously as he did. 

My groin throbbed with an ache. 

I dipped close enough again.

My mouth hovered above her shoulder a second time, breath ghosting over her skin, teeth aching to sink in…

Until, her voice returned in a ragged whisper. “Please…”

Fuck it.

Kaeleth snarled.

I pulled away, wiping drool from the side of my chin. I was a heaving, panting, shuddering mess now. 

Everywhere ached, my teeth, my cock, my heart. 

Everywhere. 

With a stifled growl to the starving dragon beneath my skin, I goutout of the bed and paced the room. 

“I can't do it…”

“Why?” 

“Not while she’s like this.” 

“Like what?”

“Like–” I jabbed my finger in her direction aggressively. “Not when she’s as vulnerable as that.” 

“Not even to heal her?” 

“You—!” I yelled, running my fingers through my hair. “YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE MARK!”

‘Lith’s voice dipped into a quiet purr as the realisation dawned on him. “So… that’s it…you’re scared…” 

I snorted, “Scared is not the word.” 

“You’re scared,” he persisted. “You’re scared she’ll turn out like the last girl did. Like Laurel? Is this why you’ve been stalling, Seneca?”

My heart nearly flatlined at the mention of that name I hadn’t heard in twelve years. 

I stopped the pacing. 

Held my breath. 

Closed my eyes. 

My fingers were shaking and the fire burned beneath  my skin so hot that within seconds, the sweat drenched my shirt. 

Kaelith purred like a bastard in my head, retreating into the darkest part of our shared memories. Laurel. “You are not afraid to bite this one. You are afraid she will become what the last one did.”

My jaw clenched so hard I tasted blood.

I stepped further away from Riley's bed, inch by inch, like distance could save me from the truth.

The room was quiet except for my ragged panting. 

And still, I didn’t bite.

Instead, I fled.