Страница 62 из 89
After more or less behaving ourselves in the tent—Ronson had tortured me with a thorough massage of my hips and legs that did not end in my release but did leave me much more comfortable to walk around—and after I was freshly dressed with my hair braided and twisted and pi
"You didn't bring your new omega?" Ronson asked the Alpha of Grave Hills.
Torion Feargus suited the name of the region he ruled over, in my opinion, with inky dark curls and smooth bronze skin, his brighter gold scales shimmering over his throat and chest. He scowled as he stared out over the field, eyes narrowing on someone behind me.
"Brigid asked to remain at the castle," he said. He shook himself and then forced a stern smile to his lips. "She finds alphas oppressive to be around."
"Well, if she's been stuck with you, it's no wonder," Seamus said, eyes glinting with mischief.
Damian Worthington, the Alpha of Skybern who had wandered over with his own omega—a beautiful, petite woman named Helena, who I was trying very hard not to resent for her remarkable resemblance to Adelaide—barked out a laugh and elbowed at Torion's shoulder.
Torion's smile was stiff, and there was a flinch in his eyes. I wondered if he thought Seamus was perhaps correct, and I struggled, my eyes bouncing around the small party we stood with, trying to think of the right thing to say.
"Or perhaps she simply has a preference for only one alpha in particular," I said, urging a smile to my own lips as I looked up to Torion on my right.
The somber man glanced at me, and the tension around his eyes eased into warmth. He bowed his head toward me in thanks, and Ronson's arm around my waist squeezed gently.
"It's an adjustment," I murmured to the alpha.
"For us both," Torion answered, his tone equally quiet. Seamus covered our exchange, chastising himself for his rudeness and praising me flirtatiously.
"Enough. She is spoken for," Ronson growled at Seamus, clutching me closer.
"You make it too easy for him to tease you, alpha," I said, settling my hand over Ronson's chest. My alpha thrummed with a purr, gazing down at me, and my cheeks warmed.
"My, my, Ronson. I thought the latest rumors about you were an exaggeration, but it appears to be true."
The ease of our conversation stalled in the wake of Alpha Worthington's declaration. Ronson tensed at my side, wings stretching slightly, and I pressed my hand in place, holding him back.
"Rumors travel through so many lips. Whether or not they bear any resemblance to the truth is often a matter of chance, my lord," I said.
Damian Worthington blinked at me. He bore some resemblance to Ronson, with dark hair and handsome features, but he was a slightly smaller man and seemed to lack my alpha's potent quality. He reminded me of the dragonkin gentleman who'd laughed when Adelaide had teased me and who had ignored me at balls.
"If you've heard that I consider myself very lucky in my choice of omega, then for once the gossip has served true," Ronson purred, his hand stroking down my spine as he dipped his head in Worthington's direction.
"Of course," Worthington said stiffly, forcing a smooth smile onto his lips. "A great compliment to you, Omega Cadogan."
Ronson bristled, and behind me Niall huffed in a
"That's our cue," Seamus said with a sigh of relief and a wink in my direction. He bowed. "Ladies, gentlemen, we alphas must take our leave for the flight."
Ronson tugged me backwards and then circled me, curling his wings around us to create a moment of privacy, his head ducking toward my mouth. I lifted my face, smiling slightly, ready for his kiss, but instead he nuzzled his nose to mine and whispered against my lips.
"Be careful. Some of the betas here are only waiting for the right moment to become the next alpha." Ronson sipped and grazed his mouth over mine, our eyes open and catching at one another. "Tell me what you think of them when I get back. I trust your judgment."
Now that I knew my own perfume better, I was more aware of its bloom, filling the little cocoon of wings around me. I laughed as Ronson growled and clutched me in earnest, slanting his mouth over mine for a brief but deep, licking kiss. He pulled away, eyes black and chest heaving. I pushed him back, smiling at his growl.
"They'll fly without you," I said.
"Then we could just go back to the tent and—"
"Seamus!" I called, laughing as a ta
"Let the girl have a few hours of peace, you menace," Seamus said, dragging my alpha along.
Ronson shot me a sharp grin, his eyes glinting in warning, and then spun and strode away with Torion and Seamus on either side of him. Niall stepped up to my side, and I avoided his eyes for a moment, too aware of the heat of a blush on my cheeks and chest.
"He's showing off for the others, isn't he?" I murmured. Showing me off. Playing up being smitten. I wanted Niall to break the spell, to crack the bubble of happiness that was growing painfully large in my chest. Better to do it now before I really started to believe it, surely?
"Ronson isn't the calculating sort. That's my job. He can stifle his feelings when he needs to, wear the stern mask of an alpha when it's called for, but I've never seen him feign in the opposite direction," Niall said. That bubble in my chest grew and floated a little higher, nearly choking me. "You're doing very well today, Mairwen. He is right to be proud of you."
Niall wouldn't lie to me. I wasn't sure why I knew this as a certainty, perhaps because of how wholly Ronson trusted him, but I did. I nodded, raising my chin, and turned to watch as the alphas in the field spread out in a circle, leaving plenty of room between one another.
"I've never liked this part," Helena said, wandering to my side. "All that magic at once makes my hair stand on end."
Niall and I wandered closer to the circle until the air started to shimmer around the alphas. I gasped at the sudden sizzle that ran over my skin. Helena was right! The power of so many dragons transforming at once made the fine hairs on my skin prickle and rise. I'd seen a few betas flying as dragons in the past, although only from far away. My father had never transformed—he wasn't strong enough—so the only dragon I'd been up close to was Ronson.
Damian Worthington transformed first, the air around him crackling with blue lightning, a brief glow bursting and then revealing a large and elegant dragon. He was the color of dark oil spilled, gleaming with hints of violet and sapphire but also bronze and black. With a crack and a boom, the older alpha from Dire Peakes transformed next, dwarfing Worthington's dragon with a brutal and craggy beast, all stone gray and flecked with white.
One by one, the men in the circle vanished, replaced by the magnificent and deadly forms of their dragons.
"Brace yourself," Helena said, reaching up to her carefully coiffed curls.
I was busy marveling at the dragons. Ronson was one of the larger of the group—only Seamus DeRoche and the Alpha of Dire Peakes were larger—and his dark scales shone with heat under the sunlight. The glistening Alpha Worthington raised his head high, snapping his jaw, and as one, the alphas raised their wings, stroking them through the air in unison.
Wind gusted, and I laughed as it stirred against my skirts, rifling through my hair. Ronson's head turned, one black eye with a fiery pupil sighting me. He thumped his tail—they all did—and I laughed again as the ground shook, echoing up into my legs until my bones were numb with the ringing.
"Beastly," Helena muttered, shaking her head as the dragons all raised their voices to roar together.
Beautiful, I thought, my breath freezing in my chest as the dragons' wings slashed through the air, their enormous and powerful bodies pushing against the ground, thrusting them as one into flight.