Chapter 110
[ 1,329 words ]
A dragon can lose his gold and gather more. The treasure he chooses cannot be replaced.
~ Rebel Beast
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If Maverick thought he had known fear before, then he had been mistaken.
This was fear.
It wrapped around his throat like a vice, squeezing until breathing became an effort. Blood thundered through his ears so violently that it drowned out everything else, and the corridor blurred as he tore through it.
At that moment, there was no separating man from beast. The wolf and the man wanted the same thing.
Find their mate.
His chest tightened with every step. No.
It couldn’t be what he was imagining. If Rhydian Drakhar had laid so much as a finger on Aria p>
A darkness settled over Maverick that even he recognized as monstrous. He would kill him. Except death would be far too merciful. He would make the dragon beg for it first.
He would carve him apart one piece at a time until the arrogant prince wished for the mercy of death and found none. Then he would hunt every dragon Rhydian had ever called family, every ally, every friend—every person whose existence mattered to him.
One after another.
Only when Rhydian had nothing left to lose would Maverick grant him the release of death.
Maverick knew those thoughts were monstrous, but he embraced every one of them. Because if anything had happened to Aria, there would be no line he refused to cross.
When he arrived at the dining hall, he barely noticed Variant and Valerie racing toward him. He didn’t see Brittney and the others with the concern written across their faces. He didn’t even spare a glance at the two Therion guards slowly regaining consciousness on the floor.
None of them mattered. Only Aria did.
The restroom door stood shut before him, locked, but it didn’t matter. Maverick drove his foot into it with enough force to rip the entire frame apart. Wood splintered, and the door crashed inward.
His heart stopped.
During those frantic time racing across the academy, Maverick had imagined countless horrors waiting for him beyond that door.
Aria burned beyond recognition by dragon fire. Aria lying in a pool of her own blood. Aria’s neck twisted at an impossible angle, her lifeless eyes staring back at him.
Hence nothing had prepared him to see
Aria alive and completely unharmed. More shocking still, she was tucked securely against Rhydian Drakhar’s side. The dragon prince’s arm rested possessively around her waist, holding her close enough that there wasn’t even room for daylight between them.
For one impossible moment, Maverick simply stared, his mind refusing to accept what his eyes were showing him.
What the hell?
His relief lasted less than a heartbeat before it gave way to something far more dangerous.
Possessive fury.
It swept through him so completely that every muscle in his body drew tight, barely containing the violence clawing its way to the surface.
His gray eyes locked onto Rhydian.
“LET. HER. GO.” The words came out low, controlled, and completely devoid of emotion.
A deep rumble rolled from Rhydian’s chest. The dragon had heard the challenge, and
rejected it.
His Treasure wasn’t leaving.
Caught between them, Aria finally found enough courage to move. She barely managed half a step before Rhydian drew her right back against him.
“Treasure is mine p>
His voice rolled over her in that rich, gravelly timbre that somehow managed to be both commanding and intimate. Heat rushed across Aria’s face while her core throbbed with need and she hated that her body reacted. The dragon was dismantling every ounce of self-control she had left, one heartbeat at a time.
This time, Maverick didn’t command Rhydian. Instead, his eyes found Aria’s. Those gray eyes were still every bit as intense as he said, “Come here, Aria p>
Aria swallowed. She no longer understood what was happening, but she understood enough. This wasn’t about her. Not entirely.
Two apex males stood facing one another, and somewhere between them, pride, instinct, and possession had become hopelessly tangled.
If either one surrendered to his temper now, the restroom would become a battlefield, and she wasn’t convinced she’d survive being caught in the middle. She had to make a choice. More importantly, she had to make the right one.
Slowly, Aria turned back to Rhydian. Against every sensible thought screaming inside her head, she lifted a trembling hand and cupped his face.
The effect was immediate. A deep, contented rumble rolled through the dragon’s chest as he leaned into her palm without hesitation. His eyes drifted shut, every line of tension melting from his body beneath her touch as though the simple caress had soothed something ancient inside him.
Across the room, Maverick watched in silence. His expression became unreadable. Why was Rhydian acting like this? More importantly, why was Aria touching him that way? A possessiveness so fierce it bordered on pain twisted through his chest. She was supposed to be looking at him like that, not the dragon.
Mine. Not his.
“I have to go,” Aria whispered gently.
Another rumble escaped Rhydian, this one almost mournful. Treasure wasn’t supposed to leave. He still had so much to do. Treasure deserved more gold, more jewels, the finest gifts from his hoard. He would hunt for Treasure. Protect Treasure. And most of all, fill Treasure with his seed. She would carry his heirs. Strong dragon heirs.
“The fight tomorrow,” Rhydian said. “Come p>
Aria blinked in confusion.
“What fight p>
“Aria.” Maverick’s voice sliced through the room with unmistakable urgency.
Driven more by instinct than thought, Aria rose onto her toes and pressed the quickest kiss against Rhydian’s cheek.
It was only the briefest touch, yet the transformation was instantaneous. Rhydian’s entire face lit up. Not like a prince. Not even like a dragon. But like a boy receiving his first kiss.
Aria’s heart nearly stopped. What on earth had she just done?
Without waiting to find out, she hurried toward Maverick. His face might as well have been carved from granite. She couldn’t read a single emotion behind those gray eyes.
“We should go,” she whispered. “Before he changes his mind p>
Maverick didn’t answer.
His gaze had settled on the ruby pendant resting against her throat. Then it drifted lower to the gold chain circling her waist. Something dark flashed across his face.
“Who gave you those?” The question came out as a growl so harsh it made Aria flinch.
She instinctively wrapped her fingers around the ruby pendant and his eyes as well notice the expensive ring around her finger.
“Does it matter?” Aria said carelessly.
It mattered.
Maverick was a professor of history, and every credible account ever written about dragons agreed on one thing. A dragon guarded its hoard more fiercely than its own life. Kingdoms had burned trying to steal dragon’s gold. Entire bloodlines had vanished for touching what belonged to one. Yet history recorded one exception.
Their mates.
The oldest texts described dragons adorning the one they had chosen with treasures from their own hoard. The gold was never decoration, but a declaration. A dragon who willingly placed his treasure upon another had already claimed her in the oldest language his kind possessed.
Maverick’s blood ran cold.
His hand shot out, gripping Aria’s wrist as his eyes swept over every piece Rhydian had placed upon her—the necklace, the ring, the waist chain. Then his gaze lifted and locked onto Rhydian.
“You have no claim over her p>
Before Aria understood what he intended to do, Maverick yanked the ring from her finger.
“Maverick, no p>
She was too late. The ring struck the tiled floor with a sharp metallic clink.
Silence settled over the restroom. For one terrifying heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the restroom echoed with the fury of a dragon’s roar. The sound crashed into the walls with enough force to shake the mirrors and rattle every hidden pipe within them.
Aria’s blood turned to ice. They were in trouble now.
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