Page 6 of Hidden Fate

Something stirred inside me, making my scales crawl.What do you mean?I tried to keep my voice level, but I was confused.

When Drake killed my fath—King Arman, all I saw was red.He hung his head as we turned slightly, easing our way back toward the barn.And I put you in danger.

You didn’t.He must have forgotten why we’d been there. It had been my influence, my suggestion, and now he felt awful about it? My lungs couldn’t fill completely.Remember, you didn’t want to go. If I’d known—I stopped. I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t make it worse. No matter what we’d done, people would have died.

You were right to push us to go. Now we have someone Drake trusts who will alert us if something seems suspicious. We need more allies like that. But when King Arman died, I was so angry and fixated on Drake and everything he’d done that I left you behind.His eyes glistened.Next time, that could easily be you. I wanted to stop him. I wanted to protect you, but instead, I left you exposed and vulnerable.

My chest expanded so much that it hurt. I hated that I had put such a heavy burden on him.You didnothingwrong. Your father died right in front of you while weapons were trained on us.

Yeah, that sucked.Smoke trickled from his nose.But if something had happened to you because I ran off to kill Drake, I wouldn’t have survived that. Hell, I almost didn’t survive you being stuck in that château with him. I sure couldn’t handle not having you on this earth any longer.

I’ve been training to protect myself. Remember?My heart skipped. Even through everything, his biggest concern had been me. I’d never had someone love me this much. He felt bad because he thought he’d abandoned me, though he’d chased after a threat to protect me. It would have been comical if it didn’t burden him so much.You have nothing to feel bad about. As soon as I said I needed you, you didn’t hesitate. You came back to me.

His dragon smiled. It was big, toothy, funny, and sexy all at the same time.I’ve always been chasing after you. It started that night at the bar, the first time I saw you. I followed you home that night, albeit not with the best intentions, but I was drawn to you even when I thought I shouldn’t be.

The memory of that night crashed over me. I’d hunted Drake down to ask him to take me instead of Eva as payment for my stepfather’s crime—before I’d learned aboutall this. It was the best bad decision I’d ever made and one I would never want to change. Yes, it had gotten me into this situation with Drake, but it had also led me to Thorn.I remember seeing your eyes in the car from underneath the bill of your hat. I felt the pull, too.

That was what we were—destined to be together. Fated mates.

All too soon, our flight came to an end. After looking around to make sure no one had followed us, we began our descent. The others dropped into the trees and started to shift back into human form, but before Thorn and I landed, I noticed something scrambling underneath us—something larger than the usual small forest animals.Do you see that?

Yeah,Thorn replied, and hot anger flared between us.

He swooped down, and I followed on his tail. A section of branches thinned, giving me a glimpse of what—no,whoit was.

My stepfather. Peter.

And he was running for his life.

CHAPTERTHREE

The momenthe heard our wings, Peter’s chestnut eyes narrowed as he scanned the area for something…most likely a place to hide.

His eyes widened, and he scurried toward some low brush between two sizable oaks and crawled under the branches. He clearly didn’t think we could see him. His gray stood out starkly among the browns and greens shrouding his body.

Maybe this was comical, but not now. Not when there was so much at stake and with a man who thought only of himself, even over his own children.

Thorn didn’t waste time. He landed and stuck his forelegs into the bush, then yanked my stepdad from his spot. Peter’s face blanched as Thorn lifted him. In Thorn’s talons, he looked tiny, despite standing at five-ten.

All dragons were gigantic, around four times the size of their human form, and Thorn was already huge for a human, coming in at seven and a half feet tall. Smoke flowed out of his nose as his chest heaved. The anger emanating from my mate was stronger than ever before. He needed time to decompress and mourn, but we didn’t have that luxury.

“I…I’m sorry.” Peter’s bottom lip quivered. “I…I didn’t—”

Part of me wanted to stand back and let Thorn do whatever he wanted, but if today had reminded me of anything, it was that I needed to protect my siblings. He wastheirfather, and if something happened to him, they would be parentless…like me.Babe, I know he’s an asshole, but we have to remember Elliott and Eva. It would hurt them to lose him, even if he is a bad father.

None of the anger ebbed, but Thorn replied,I know. You don’t want me to kill him. That’s the only reason he’s still breathing, but we can’t trust the twins to watch him again. And if he doesn’t stop putting you in danger, I don’t know how long I can hold back.He turned to me, his eyes full of concern.

The world tilted.

My siblings.

Peter must have done something to them to escape, and dammit, I couldn’t ask him in this form. I had to get to them.

Thorn and I took off, flying over the treetops. The barn was in view, so we were isolated from any humans. We’d kept an eye out for hikers and campers before landing. None were around, which wasn’t surprising. Theron’s land was private property.

As we drew closer to the barn, Elliott and Eva ran out of the house with stony expressions.

They had to be looking for Peter.

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