Part I
“I’ll say this once, then I won’t burden you with this subject again. Xenon wasn’t a serpent. He was my fated mate. I loved him. My flame burned yellow for him, even knowing what he was. And despite having no knowledge of what love was when we met, he somehow came to love me back.”
Fensa, Her Dragon Everlasting
Prologue
Maxwell COLBY
“Colby, come to me.”
The words appeared in his head like a thought, just a few minutes after the commotion from downstairs finally stopped. No more window banging. No more erotic screams from the woman who had morphed into a wolf when they first arrived at the house. Just quiet.
And then those words. Colby, come to me.
As with every command that had arrived before this one, obeying didn’t feel like a choice. He’d had an easier time holding his bladder for an hour-long tube ride after a night of drinking with Dyana than he’d had disobeying any of Damianos Drákon’s orders.
Dyana…
As he rose to his feet, the memory of rising from their hotel bed in Ibiza came floating back like a wave from the sea. His last image of his fiancée had been of her sleeping with a smile on her face. A smile he’d put there after asking her to marry him. A smile he knew had surely faded then completely disappeared when she woke up to find him gone.
Guilt pressed down on Maxwell Colby at the thought of how he’d abandoned the love of his life without a word of explanation. However, he was as powerless to do anything about it now as he’d been back then. He’d left his location services on, so she’d know he was still alive and where he was. But that was all he’d been able to manage with the invisible handcuffs on.
The invisible handcuffs…that was what he called his inability to perform actions such as trying to escape, returning Dyana’s messages, or asking anyone for help. In fact whenever he thought to do anything that might remove him from the sudden servitude he’d found himself in, the thought died in a way that felt biological. Like having a notion to fly, but not being able to get both feet off the ground for more than a second or two.
However, he’d seen Damianos Drákon fly, hadn’t he? With a large pair of wings. Also, he’d overheard the large black American woman, whom he was certain was some sort of werebeast, call him a “dragon” during one of their many arguments.
Damianos Drákon was a dragon in disguise. Maxwell Colby was sure of it now.
That certainty should have upset him. Burying his father’s dead body and watching a woman’s nanite dress conform to fit around her passed out wolf form should have made him question everything he knew. But he found he could not grapple properly with any of the things he’d seen or done since being called to Damianos Drákon’s side. He could only obey.
Colby, come to me.
Maxwell Colby felt nothing other than an eagerness to do his master’s bidding as he rushed toward the steps at the front of the house.
He stopped, however when more words suddenly appeared inside his mind. “I am outside, about a half a kilometer from the house toward the top of the mountain. I’ll need clothes suitable for the current weather, including shoes. And a large knife. No matter what you see downstairs, come to me outside. Talk to no one until you find me.”
Maxwell Colby frowned at the order, not understanding. But did it matter whether he understood or not? No…of course, it did not. Without any further hesitation, he gathered a set of clothes and a pair of leather boots from his master’s room, along with a heavy jacket.
However, his footsteps stuttered when he reached the bottom step.
The Master…he was downstairs not outside as he’d said he would be. Maxwell Colby could see him clearly, lying on the floor, his powerful body naked and curled around the large black woman.
Maxwell Colby opened his mouth to ask if the master would like to put on the clothes he’d requested now while he went to the kitchen to fetch the knife, but the words slammed back down like human feet trying to achieve flight.
No matter what you see downstairs, come to me outside. Talk to no one until you find me.
His master’s original command was a powerful wave inside his head, obliterating every instinct he had other than completing it through to the end.
Without a word, Colby quietly continued through the sitting room and into the kitchen. There he grabbed the largest knife from the butcher block he’d hidden away before leaving from the house’s side door.
After hiking for about a quarter kilometer, Maxwell Colby was shocked to find his master waiting for him exactly where he’d said he would be.