Page 1 of Shifting Desire
Prologue
Malichai
The First Time I Saw Her
Three years ago
I’ve been away on businesswith my father for a week and my stress level is at an all-time high.I need to break away from all the expectations the old man keeps piling on and just be a man for a few hours.
The Gin Room is packed tonight.Music pulses like a heartbeat through the walls, bodies pressed too close together, all of them chasing distraction or desire.I lean against an aged barrel in a back corner, drink in hand, scanning the crowd around me with idle detachment.
That is, until she walks in.
At first, I think I’m imagining it, the sudden shift in the atmosphere, the way the sounds around me seem to dull, the way my breath catches in my throat.She’s small, like a fae child playing dress-up, with cotton-candy pink hair piled high and a pair of bright yellow combat boots that make no damn sense, and somehow, she makes it all work.
She doesn’t glide.She bounces, all energy caught up in a small package.I watch her as she moves, interacting with everyone she passes.She talks too fast and laughs too loudly.She's all color and sunshine in a world I’ve ruled in onyx and blood.It’s not her smile that stuns me and it’s not the way her hips sway as she moves behind the bar, serving customers like she has been here for years instead of days.It’s the feeling that slams into me like a freight train the moment our eyes meet.
The mate bond ignites in my chest.It’s hot and instant.My dragon roars in recognition, clawing at the cage I’ve locked him in for centuries.He pushes at my control, wanting to get out and get to the strange little female on the other end of the room.
Mine.The word is a roar that vibrates through my body.
My soul screams it even as my feet remain planted.She doesn’t react.There is no spark of awareness.No softening in her expression, just polite disinterest.I watch her glance past me like I’m just another stranger in the crowd and my dragon rages.
She can’t feel what I am, will be, to her but I feel it.
My jaw clenches, my nostrils flaring as I drink in her scent—jasmine and moonlight and something uniquely hers.The pull is excruciating, and I want to drag her out of this damn bar and lock her away where no one can look at her, breathe near her, touch her.I want to hoard her all to myself.
But she doesn’t feel the bond.She doesn’t know.Because she’s not like me, like us.Not fully at least.I scent the air again, forcing myself to focus this time.Half-fae, half-human.Fuck.She doesn’t sense our fate bond because of her human side.
I’ve heard of this before and I know that if the bond is left to build, she will experience it with time, her fae side winning out.Not that it will matter.To the rest of the supernatural world, her human side is all that anyone will see.
She will be seen as ‘less than.’A mutt.An abomination.Unworthy of a mate, especially a full blood dragon in line for the throne to rule over all paranormal creatures.I am meant to be a king and my father, the council, and most everyone else will never allow me to take a half-breed as my queen.
I don’t give a fuck about legacy and bloodlines, but my father does.And so does the fucking council.I know my father well enough to know that when I tell him about her, about my mate, he will laugh in my face.He will accuse me of thinking with my cock.And if, when, I tell him I will give up everything for her, he will do what he must to keep me in line ...even if that means killing the woman that just became the center of my entire fucking universe.
I stare at her with longing, my dragon fighting to get to the only treasure that means a damn thing to him anymore.She is pure, and beautiful, and everything I can never have.My shoulders slump and a heavy sigh falls from my lips as I walk out of The Gin Room.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I call the only person who can help me, who will keep my secret.Serephine Dhalora, an excommunicated witch and one of the few people I count as a friend.
She will sympathize with my situation and help me.After all, she was thrown out of her coven for loving the wrong person.
“Hello, Mal,” she says, her voice low and sultry.“To what do I owe the pleasure of this midnight call?”
Damn, I didn’t realize it was so late.Not that it matters, dragons don’t need much rest.
“I need you to meet me at my office.I have a problem.”
“Sounds serious.”Sarcasm drips from her words.“Can’t we do this tomorrow?”
“No, Serephine, we can’t,” I say angrily.“I just found my mate and unless you want my damn dragon to burn New York to cinders to get to her, you will meet me now.”
“Shit,” she mutters, and I hear her moving around on the other end of the line.“Give me fifteen minutes.”With that she ends the call, and I pocket my device.
I take my time, walking the three blocks to the offices of Veythronn Tower.My dragon writhes beneath my skin, barely kept at bay and hidden beneath the surface.I allow my thoughts to roam to the woman whose name I don’t even know.To the possibilities of what we could have been if she had been born full blooded fae or if I had been born as a lower ranking dragon.But neither of us are anything other than what we are, and I need to make peace with that.
I pull my cell out again and send a text to my second in command Tavian.
Me:There is a new hire at The Gin Room.I need to know everything about her.
