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“Take advantage?” I’m fucking done with this. I step toward Midas, ready to hit him, but Jeslyn moves between us. I pull back my punch just in time to avoid hitting her.
“Stop it! Both of you.” Her head swings from her husband to me. “Cyrus, tell me why you did it. I don’t agree that Finley isn’t old enough to make her own decisions, but you know the law. If you’re attracted to her, I can’t understand why you couldn’t just wait a few days until she was old enough. I can’t say I would be happy about it, knowing it can’t lead anywhere—”
“Can’t lead anywhere?” Everything they’ve said since entering the room suddenly clicks into place. “You don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?” Midas seethes.
“Have you looked at your phones?”
Jeslyn and Midas share a look. “We didn’t get service in the temple.”
“Even if we did, I wouldn’t have given up those first two days of solitude with my girls.” My brother’s expression goes soft in a way I’ve never seen before as he pulls his wife to his side and looks down at their baby with reverence.
“Fuck.” I drop onto the little cot, the only piece of furniture in the room. My head hits the wall behind me, and I blow out a breath to keep from losing it. “She’s my mate. I tried calling. Texting. I even announced it to the horde—or tried to—before I ended up here.”
“Really?! Oh, Cyrus, that’s amazing!” Jeslyn sits down next to me and throws her free arm around me. “I’d hoped Finley would have a dragon mate so she could join the horde. I didn’t want to have to watch her grow old and die while I lived on for centuries and centuries. I can’t tell you how relieved I am. I can’t believe it! You and my sister… I…”
Overcome by tears, her rambling dies on a smiling sob. I’m not sure what to do with an exuberant, emotional Jeslyn. I haven’t seen her like this before. Feeling awkward, I pat her back and look at my brother for help, but he narrows his eyes on me and crosses his arms.
“It still doesn’t explain why you kissed her before she wasof age,” Midas says, voice unyielding. “You wouldn’t have known she’s your mate before her birthday.”
“But I did.” My voice is heavy with a sigh. “I’ve known since she was seventeen.”
Midas studies me for a solid minute. I stare him straight in the eye, willing him to see the truth.
“Fuck,” he breathes out, sinking down next to his wife on the cot. “How did you—?”
“It wasn’t easy.” My fists clench, remembering the misery of the last six years. “I almost made it too. I didn’t kiss her until three days ago—two days short of her birthday. It was so close, but I fucked it all up and ended up here.”
We’re all quiet. My fate isn’t just up to Midas. It’ll be up to the priests, and we have no way of knowing how harsh they’ll be with their judgment.
The baby cries and Jeslyn repositions her, making a soft hissing noise in her ear to calm her. It’s a noise I’ve heard all dragon mothers make, and my heart feels a little lighter at seeing that she and the baby are both doing so well after such a traumatic birth.
“I still don’t understand how you could have known that early,” Midas says, shaking his head.
“I think it just has to do with her being human.” A shrug is all I can offer him. “I searched the records for accounts of other dragons who met human mates before they were twenty-three and found nothing.” I run my hand across my mouth.
“We’ll do what we can.” Midas stands and pulls his wife up with him. “I’ll talk to the priests. And hopefully by the time—”
He’s cut off by Damian running in. He drops his hands to his knees, huffing out air. “Ra, thank the goddess you’re here.”
A sense of foreboding makes my blood turn to ice.
“What is it?” Midas asks.
“Finley—” Damian gasps to catch his breath, then stands up. “Finley’s missing.”
The world spins and explodes. My skin rips as my dragon takes over. I roar fire out of my mouth, heedless of everything apart from getting to my mate.
I’m charging out of the room and down the wide hall before anyone can stop me. I burst into the main part of the temple and take to the air. Priests yell, but then they spot something behind me and stop. I twist my head. Midas flaps his wings, coming up alongside me. A show of solidarity.
We nod at each other, burst out of the temple, and take off at full speed back toward New York City. And my mate.
Chapter 29
Finley
When I regain consciousness,I’m soaring through the air far above any rooftop. Dazed, my memory comes back to me slowly. Heart racing, I look up. Wide wings flap in a steady rhythm that propels us forward, farther and farther from the heart of the city.
