Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories (13 page)

She looked ready to bolt at any moment, as if she wasn’t sure about any of them. Where there had always been trust and acceptance in her gaze, now there was indecision.

How Hal hated that. Maybe keeping the secrets to himself had been the best plan. Then he’d have her. Her acceptance of him as part dragon didn’t seem to matter anymore.

“Hal,” Con urged.

Cassie licked her lips, her smile shaky as she said, “Go ahead.”

He released his hold on the jeans. In less time than it took for the pants to hit the ground, he shifted. He lifted his head and stood as tall as he could in the low ceiling of the cavern.

Through the emerald green dragon eyes with their sharp eyesight, he saw Cassie’s eyes widen as she took a step back. As much as Hal wanted to turn away, he didn’t.

She wanted to see him as a dragon, so he would show her everything.

He blew a breath out, the force of the wind making her dark locks billow around her. Hal transferred his weight, and the sound of his talons scraping against the rocks was loud in the silence.

And to his amazement, she came toward him.

*   *   *

Cassie hadn’t realized the immense size of Hal until he stood before her. The green scales were even more beautiful up close.

The scales grew finer and less thick on his neck and tail, but on his broad body they were dense and hard. On the end of his long tail was an axelike extension that she had no doubt could cleave another dragon in two.

His thick limbs had three splayed digits on each foot with long claws that gave her pause. The semitransparent green crest that ran from his shoulders to the tip of his tail only made him look more intimidating, as if he needed any help.

With his emerald gaze watching her, she could see Hal in them. His mouth was shaped so that it looked like he was smiling, and his fine, sharp teeth were there for all to see.

But she also saw the sadness, the doubt in his eyes.

She took a step toward him and he stretched out his large green wings the same instant he moved back. Cassie sucked in a breath when she saw the wings up close. Just that small movement stirred the air so that she nearly lost her balance.

“You’re beautiful,” she told him. “Yes, I admit, it’s scary to see you like this, but to know dragons are real … It’s incredible.”

She stroked his front arm, feeling the hardness of his green scales. His head gave her a gentle nudge, and she found herself smiling up at him.

Her hands shook as she caressed down his long muzzle to his oval nostrils. Fear mixed with excitement the more she touched him.

She was scared shitless, but she was determined to prove to him—and Con—that she cared enough to weather whatever they threw at her.

“You’re a dragon shifter. A Dragon King,” she whispered. “Of all your secrets I thought you had, this wasn’t one of them.”

The scales beneath her hand began almost to shimmer. She watched, mesmerized, as the dragon faded and Hal stood before her once more.

Cassie’s hand dropped to her side as her gaze locked with Hal’s pale blue eyes.

“You didna run,” he murmured.

She shook her head as tears filled her eyes. He’d been afraid she’d leave. Everyone always left her. No one had ever worried about her leaving.

“No. I didn’t leave, and I won’t. Not until you tell me you don’t want me anymore.”

“That willna be happening,” Hal said as his eyes darkened with desire.

Con cleared his throat where he stood with the other three Kings. Cassie had no idea where Tristan was, and didn’t care.

“Before the two of you head off for some private time,” Con said with a grin, “There is something else Cassie needs to know, and something Hal needs to be reminded of.”

Hal sighed loudly. “What might that be?”

“Dragons mate for life.”

Cassie looked from Hal to Con and then back to Hal. “But I’m not immortal. I’ll die and leave him to find someone else.”

“Nay,” Hal and Con said in unison.

“Now I’m confused,” Cassie said with a nervous chuckle. “Would someone care to explain?”

Hal stood naked before her and opened his mouth to talk, when Con spoke over him.

“It means, Cassie, that you can be bound to a Dragon King. As long as your King lives, so shall you.”

Her head could hardly wrap around what they were telling her. “What is this binding?”

“Think of it like a wedding ceremony,” Hal said.

A wedding. They were talking eternity, and he’d yet to tell her he loved her. But then again, she hadn’t even admitted to herself how deep her feelings for him went.

She had to be sure, because if she bound herself to him, it was forever. There was no divorce.

“Children?” she asked.

Hal looked away.

“A few Kings were able to get their wives with child, but no’ a single babe was carried to term. I doona believe we were meant to have families,” Con said softly.

Cassie had always thought she’d have two children. She’d pictured holidays with her kids many times in her mind. Leaving cookies for Santa, picking costumes for Halloween, hunting eggs for Easter, and pretending to be the Tooth Fairy.

When she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, she found Hal watching her quietly. He had yet to say anything, as if he were waiting on her.

“This happened between us very suddenly. Are you sure?” she asked him.

One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “I know what I feel, Cassie.”

“Then tell me.”

His brow furrowed for a moment before he closed the distance between them and covered her mouth with his. He tongue slid between her lips and he kissed her deeply, soundly.

Completely.

Every ounce of his feeling was put into the kiss. Every need, every want she felt as keenly as if it were her own.

When he ended the kiss, she clung to him to keep upright. She forced her eyes open and found herself drowning in his moonlight blue gaze.

“I love you, Cassie. I can no’ imagine life without you, nor do I want to try. I know it’s a lot to ask, but will you bind yourself to me so we can spend eternity together?”

She swallowed as her mind struggled through all she had learned that day. “I knew the first time I saw you that you were different. Now I know why. I didn’t want to think or hope that I might be falling in love with you, and when I knew I was, I couldn’t stop it.”

“But?” he asked when she paused.

“But … I don’t want to live without you either. How can I know something with such certainty in so short a time?”

“Because it’s right,” he murmured before he kissed her again.

There was a loud whoop as someone shouted, “It’s about fekking time we have something to celebrate!”

The kiss was cut short as they both began laughing. Cassie looked at the men around her. Rhys, Banan, and Guy were talking amongst themselves as Con stood off to the side, his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face.

“He approves of you,” Hal whispered in her ear.

Cassie chuckled and rested her head on his chest. “The only one I want to approve is you.”

His arms tightened around her, and Cassie found herself smiling for the first time as she thought of her future.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

A month later …

Cassie might not have seen every inch of the caves, but she had seen all there was of the distillery, the mansion, and even the sheep and cattle farms.

Since she’d agreed to bind herself with Hal, she’d spent every waking moment at Dreagan, Duke right beside her. Hal had somehow found her lost luggage and gotten everything moved to the mansion within a day.

She stood in her room in the mansion and looked in the mirror and smoothed her hands down the dark green velvet gown she wore. The dress was simple, but she thought it suited.

The sleeves were long and clung to her arms. The bodice was cut into a low vee and showed off her breasts as the material hugged her to her waist. From there, the heavy material draped to the floor.

She lifted her skirts high enough so she could slip on the black stiletto heels. Her hair was left hanging down her back, with only the sides pulled away from her face.

“Come in,” she called when someone knocked on her door.

Con poked his head inside and smiled when he saw her. He closed the door behind him and nodded. “You look verra beautiful. Hal will love the green.”

“I hope so. I chose it because it’s his color.”

“Hal said you had no changes to your suite of rooms?”

She looked at the huge room. There was a giant four-poster bed, a couch and two chairs situated in front of the fireplace. There was a separate, smaller room where their clothes were kept.

Hal had brought in a vanity table for her, even though the mirror and lighting in their connecting bathroom would have been enough. And then there was the other living area with two couches and a large flat-screen TV.

“There is nothing I’d change,” she said.

Con cleared his throat. “Cassie, it’s been a long time since one of my Kings took a mate. I didna ever expect it to happen again, but I have no’ forgotten my duty.”

“Duty?” she asked with a frown.

He moved his arms from behind his back to present a small black box that he handed to her. “This is a token of thanks from me for bringing such happiness to Hal. I apologize for being so harsh in the beginning.”

“You were protecting Hal. I knew that then, and I know it now. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“Hal is a lucky man.” He smiled and glanced at the rug he stood upon. “I’ll wait outside to take you to him.”

Cassie smiled as Con departed. He was a strange one, and just when she thought she had him figured out, he surprised her again.

She looked at the box and slowly opened the lid. A gasp tore from her throat as she found herself staring at a large emerald that had to be at least four or five carats.

It took some doing with her shaky fingers, but she was able to get the necklace secured around her neck. She touched the large rectangle emerald and instantly thought of Hal in dragon form.

She glanced at the clock and realized it was time. When she opened the bedroom door, Con waited for her just as he’d said. He took her down the long corridor and three flights of stairs to a hidden door in the library bookcase that stood open for them.

There would be two ceremonies. One that was just for the Dragon Kings, and another one outside under a massive tent Con had brought in for the wedding, where hundreds of guests had been invited.

Cassie stepped over the threshold into the cave to glimpse men she’d never seen before lining the passage to where Hal waited for her. She walked past the Kings she had yet to meet, feeling their eyes watching her, measuring her. But she didn’t care.

Let them measure her, because the only one she cared about was Hal.

Once she spotted him, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. The closer they drew together, the wider their smiles got. She barely noticed when Con handed her over to Hal.

When Hal’s warm hand closed over hers, all the nervousness vanished. They followed Con into a cavern, the other Kings falling into step behind them.

“There’s still time to change your mind,” Hal whispered.

“Not on your life. You stole my heart, so I’m yours.”

“For eternity.”

“For eternity,” she said as they stopped before Con and she looked into Hal’s moonlight blue eyes.

Con glanced at them before he said, “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a binding, but it’s something to celebrate. We welcome Cassandra Hunter to our family, as mate to Haldor Wilson.”

There was a pause as Con looked to Hal. “Do you bind yourself to this human Cassie? Do you swear to love her, protect her, and cherish her above all others?”

“Aye,” Hal said with a smile, his gaze never leaving hers.

“And you, Cassie,” Con said. “Do you bind yourself to the Dragon King Haldor, lord of all Greens? Do you swear to love him, care for him, and cherish him above all others?”

Cassie smiled as tears of joy filled her eyes. “Yes.”

She expected to hear Con announce something like they were now bound, but there was nothing. And then she felt something sear her arm. She gasped in surprise and pain as Hal steadied her.

“It’s all right,” he said softly, reassuringly. “It’s part of the ceremony. What you find will prove we are bound, Cassie. There’s no turning back now.”

“As if there ever was,” she replied with a wink.

She moved the gown off her left shoulder and down her arm where she saw a tattoo now inked on her skin. It was about the size of her fist, but with a design that made her catch her breath it was so beautiful.

“It’s a dragon eye,” Hal said, and traced the pattern with one finger. “A dragon’s eye sees things a mortal eye never will. This mark with the eye and the flames coming out around it signifies you as one of us.”

She stared in awe at the design, noting the way the eye seemed to be staring at everyone. It made her feel protected and a part of something. “It’s stunning.”

“How does it feel to be immortal?” Hal asked.

Cassie rearranged her gown over the tattoo and covered it with her hand. “That’s a perk, but one I don’t really know how to answer. I’ve never been immortal before. What’s really special is that I have you. I never thought I’d find someone like you, Hal, or that you’d want me to.”

“Oh, I want you,” he whispered as seductively. “It’s too bad we now have to go to the wedding when I’d rather take you to bed.”

She wanted nothing more, but thankfully the wedding went almost as quickly as the first ceremony. She briefly noticed Dan and his wife, the only people she knew, as she walked once more down an aisle to Hal.

They had decided on an evening wedding with candles everywhere. Cassie hadn’t been sure about having the wedding outside, but Hal promised her she would be warm and it would be beautiful. And he hadn’t disappointed.

She found her gaze trapped by his, saying the right things at the right time. And then something was slipped on her finger.

A glance down gave her another surprise in an emerald that matched her necklace with a wide hammered platinum band that had small diamonds on either side all the way around the band.