The Cursed King by Abigail Owen

Chapter Two

It took a lot to get Angelika angry, but she would cheerfully throttle the dragon shifters in this mountain. Every single one of them.

Starting with the one walking behind her, but now, also everyone else. Each person she and Airk happened across on the way to the infirmary practically glued themselves to the walls of the hollowed-out tunnels carved throughout Mount Ararat. Not to scoot their cowardly ways around her. She was a curiosity.

Now that her secret was out and everyone knew she was a phoenix and not a wolf shifter, they all watched her with a different light in their eyes. She didn’t have the company of the wolf pack to hide behind anymore—they’d gone to seek safety among the Federation of Packs. Jedd hadn’t even said goodbye, still angry and hurt that she hadn’t accepted his mating proposal not long before they left. That still made her heart pinch when she thought about it.

But right now she wasn’t the one these shifters were avoiding—Airk was.

All the fire breathers anywhere she’d seen so far—didn’t matter what clan or creed they hailed from—avoided the man like he was a rat on a ship come to inflict his brand of curse upon them. Even her sisters’ mates, each a powerful, badass king in his own right, were visibly wary around Airk.

Granted, despite being a closed off, unemotional robot, the man still managed to give off an aura of threat, more than the usual that came with these incredibly dangerous shifters.

But it seemed to Angelika that any creature tortured with the kind of isolation he’d endured for centuries deserved to be surrounded by care. Not pity. She found it impossible to pity the kind of strength he’d shown to survive that. But to continue to isolate him by making him a social pariah…that was just cruel.

The disappointment from a moment ago when he refused to touch her wrapped a tighter fist around her heart. She could have been the one to care for him—as a friend—but she’d gone and ruined it with that damn suggestion to mate. He hadn’t even let her get out a single reason or tell him all the ways it would benefit them both. She’d only wanted to open a…discussion. But he’d shut her down hard, and no amount of persistence or cheer on her part had been able to break through the walls he’d slammed up between them.

Another black dragon shifter skittered by like a frightened rabbit, pewter-eyed gaze darting between her and Airk, and she hissed through bared teeth, which only made him duck his head and scurry faster.

Airk said nothing. No reaction, as usual. Though, in small moments when he thought he went unwatched, she sensed he wasn’t oblivious. He noticed. Even so, the man seemed to feed into the fear, if anything, doing nothing to make friends or influence people to his side, generally keeping to himself.

Why anyone believed he’d be a good ambassador to other white dragons was beyond her.

Her back to the man limping along behind her in stone-cold silence, Angelika swung into the medical room. Everything in this room screamed infirmary from the bright lights, to the sterile stainless steel appliances, white-sheeted hospital beds, and glass-fronted cases showing a multitude of medical tools and items.

“Sit,” she said, pointing at one bed.

She grabbed blunt-tipped scissors, then turned and froze at the sight of a bare male chest. Impressions hit her all at once—the breadth of his shoulders and the ridges of his muscles, but also a series of scars crisscrossing his abdomen. As though he’d been flayed open so many times, his dragon healing eventually couldn’t prevent the scarring. Gods, the things this man had been through.

Awareness slid through her like melted butter.

Logic had driven her mating proposal. Or so she’d told herself. But the way she had to tamp down the lust swamping her now, maybe it had been a bigger part than she’d let herself believe.

His hands went to the button of his pants.

Holy shit. “I didn’t say strip!” she squeaked.

He jumped, then stopped moving, watching her closely.

Heat flooded her face. Helping him with his wound was her priority—or should be. Only, given the way her body had come to buzzing life thanks to what he’d bared so far, she was struggling mightily not to forget herself. What would he do if she’d let him strip naked and she wrapped her hand around his cock? Maybe tasted him? Had any woman gifted him that kind of pleasure before?

Given his treatment of her so far, he’d probably sit back, arms crossed, and glare at her until she got it over with.

Get your mind on the task.

His expression went from wary to blank in a flash. “I offer my apologies. Any time they cared for me in…” A muscle in his shoulder twitched as though he couldn’t speak the name of Everest. “They didn’t let me out of my cell when tending to my person. Instead, I was made to remove my clothes in order for them to inspect me from afar.”

Angelika cleared her throat. Forget a blow job. The man clearly needed a long, strings-free cuddle. Except the last thing he’d want from her was a hug, even though she desperately wanted to wrap her arms around him and press her lips to his temple. “You’re in a better place now.”

He stared back, unmoved. Airk did that a lot around everyone. She didn’t take it personally.

Instead, she snagged a rolling stool and pulled it up to sit in front of him, then proceeded to cut away the material of the black combat pants he wore. Apparently Airk had taken modern clothing tips from her sisters’ mates, all three warriors first and foremost. Each a reluctant king.

Seeing that the wound was on the back of his leg, she stood. “Flip to your stomach and scoot up on the bed, please.”

He did as she asked, resting his chin on his crossed arms, the muscles playing across his back. Her nipples tightened.

Gah.

Forcing herself to focus, Angelika inspected the wound a long gash from the back of his knee almost to his Achilles, which was closing slowly. Whatever he’d hit had cut deep, ripping into the flesh. “What did this?”

“Rock. I think.”

No wonder the rending appeared so jagged. “Hmmm. If you weren’t a shifter, I’d say you need stitches. Instead, I’ll bandage it so you don’t trail blood everywhere until it heals properly.”

Silence.

She wrinkled her nose at his back and took that as agreement, then left him lying there to gather the things she’d need. She didn’t speak again until she was rolling a bandage around the leg, covering the non-stick gauze she’d taped over the wound. “Don’t do anything too strenuous the next hour or two.”

“I heard you had been educated in the medical profession.” He kept his head turned away, talking to the wall.

Her eyebrows lifted. Airk instigating conversation was a rare thing. “I’m a trained nurse,” she confirmed. “I have a degree and experience working in several hospitals and everything.” Her hands slowed as unbidden memories washed over her. “Mama had each of us learn different skills that would serve us in the modern world both in terms of supporting ourselves and as possible skills that would be needed on the run. Meira has her computers. Skylar is a pilot. Kasia was getting an engineering degree when Pytheios found us.”

“Meanwhile, you chose to heal people.”

She shrugged, not that he saw it. “Given that dragon shifters were after us, I figured medical skills would come in handy.”

“No. You like to take care of people.”

Angelika’s hands paused, and she glanced at the back of his head. Even though she knew he did, she was often surprised by the way Airk observed things others did not.

Airk’s observant nature must’ve come from years of trying to piece together what was happening in the outside world through the small and random contact he had with other prisoners who had come and gone where he was kept.

“I do,” she agreed. “At least it makes me…”

“Caring?”

Airk still wasn’t looking, but she shook her head anyway. “No. Useful.”

He did glance over his shoulder at that, bright eyes so like hers taking in her expression and maybe more than she wanted him to see. “You do not see yourself as useful?” he asked.

She glanced at the door she’d closed behind them. “A dormant phoenix with no powers?” she said in a low voice, because the dormant part was still a secret. “I’m no more helpful than a human. Fragile and in the way.”

He stiffened as though he didn’t like that description. “Power does not always come from a physical ability.”

“It doesn’t come from physical weakness, either,” she pointed out. Then shook herself out of what could become a big funk if she let it. “But I refuse to be sidelined.”

“Sidelined?” he asked.

“It’s a phrase from modern sports that means not allowed to play or removed from the game and left to the side to merely observe but not participate.”

“I see. You wish to be helpful.”

“More than helpful.” She blew out a breath, wanting to explain but sure he didn’t really want to hear it. “You were there when Pytheios killed my father.”

Airk nodded slowly, almost reluctantly.

“My parents’ mating bond hadn’t solidified, so my mother didn’t die with him. She was pregnant and ran to save us. She taught us to survive even while she grieved every single day for him. Kept us a secret. Until Pytheios found her and killed her, too.”

Angelika swallowed. In her dreams every night, she still saw her mother the last night they were all together, lying in that burning field dying.

“I thought that was the worst that could happen, but then Maul—” She cut herself off before her voice broke.

“They told me,” Airk said quietly. “The legend about hellhounds being reincarnated souls of warriors with unfinished business is true.”

True, and a huge revelation.

“Did they tell you how Maul turned out to be the soul of our father? Pytheios killed him, too. Again.”

But Angelika hadn’t been there that day.

Pain speared her through the heart, and she gasped silently, breathing through it. Something that had happened out of the blue at least once a day since she’d learned of how Maul had died.

“I should have been there. I should have had a chance to say goodbye to him.” Her sisters had. She shook her head. She wanted to rail at the fates who, for some unknown reason, had prevented her from taking her place beside Meira, Kasia, and Skylar in this war. “I might have no fire, no power like my sisters, but I am going to make a difference in this war.”

“Healing people is a way to be helpful.” Airk seemed to be offering the option to her, and she would love to have kissed him for the effort. A sweet kiss this time.

“It is,” she agreed. “But with the accelerated healing shifters have, I’m rarely needed in any capacity that way. Never in a lifesaving one. A Healer with a universal blood type is the one who makes a real difference around here.”

Airk said nothing. Not that he could. She wasn’t wrong.

“That’s why I wanted to discuss our mating that night,” she said. “It seemed like the only thing I could do to make a difference.”

He shot upright, rolling over and swinging his legs to dangle off the high bed, to stare at her with that inscrutable, immovable expression of his.

“I refuse to discuss mating with you.” The words came out flat.

Well, hells. He didn’t have to be mean about it. “I wasn’t going to propose or anything,” she snapped. She hadn’t actually proposed the last time. She’d only wanted to bring the option up. She couldn’t help a muttered, “Even if rejecting me wasn’t very forward-thinking of you.”

Silence.

She ducked her head, pretending to be focused on fixing the bandage now dangling and loose. They sat quietly, the room thick with unspoken words as she continued to work.

“Why do you wish to mate me?” The words sounded almost offhand, as though he was asking the time of day.

Her hands stilled in their work, and she blinked at his leg. “Like I said…to make a difference,” she repeated. “For my family and for our people.”

“Is that all?”

Angelika’s eyebrows tried to crawl into her hair. Did he sound…disappointed? “I mean, physically, I think we’d—”

“No.”

He clapped his hand over his wrist, but not before she caught the shimmer of a shift.

Yikes. His dragon was way closer to the surface than she’d realized. She should be nervous of that. Unnervingly, she wasn’t. Instead, that visible display only gave her another arguing point.

“You know, a mate would give your dragon an anchor,” she pointed out. “You could try to shift—”

“The time for that passed long ago.” He was speaking slowly and quietly now. Not a good sign, given that the way he appeared to keep control was to never lose it. “If I shift, I go feral, and your sisters’ mates will have to put me down. Are we finished here?”

She glanced at the bandage, which had started to unravel again with how tense he’d gone, then pulled the stool closer and started rewrapping it. Again.

“Okay. Then maybe I can travel with you to help reach out to dragons from the White Clan. I’m a people person. Plus, they might be more willing to listen to both a phoenix and one of their royals. Maybe I’d have…er…a little more success in convincing others to our side.”

“As opposed to my lack of success, I take you to mean?”

She cleared her throat. “I believe that’s the third settlement that”—how to word this to avoid discouraging him—“wasn’t interested?”

“That chased me out violently is what you meant to say.” He was back to that unshakable calm.

“What if—”

“I refuse to negotiate this with you further.”

She shouldn’t have pushed. “I didn’t think we were negotiating. I was just—”

“Angelika.”

What would it be like to hear him say her name like that, growl it, if they came together?

Good grief, girl, get your mind on the problem and not…sex.Maybe she needed a few rounds with her vibrator. It had been a while.

“Then what’s your plan?” She secured the end of the bandage and scooted back to look up at him.

“My plan does not concern you.”

Ouch. She hid a wince, heart pinching even harder than when Jedd left without saying goodbye. Which was ridiculous, since she’d only known Airk a short time.

She shot to her feet, and, almost defensively, he did the same…which brought them very, very close. He’d have to touch her to move her, and she’d seen how he avoided that, but she’d stood up first, damn it. She wouldn’t move aside to cater to whatever stick he had up his ass.

She lifted her chin. “Not mating you doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens to you. We once talked about being friends, and I would like that—”

“No.”

Gods, did the man ever feel anything? What would he do if she pressed against him right now?

Heat blanketed the room, like a roaring fire on a cold winter’s night. Was it coming from him? Or her? A muscle in his jaw ticked, but no flame entered his eyes. The man was locked down as tight as a submarine underwater. And yet, she couldn’t look away. Couldn’t step away.

“I want you.” The whispered words tore from her.

Her eyes flared wide on the realization that she actually said that out loud. Oh hells. She was tempted to flee, but that required scooting around him, which involved touching, and…no. She was too on edge for that.

His eyes narrowed. “Is this a new idiom I have yet to encounter?” he asked slowly, carefully.

Yep. She definitely needed to flee. “Er…I hope not.”

He stared at her, mind working through who the hells knew what. “What do you want me for?”

This really was getting lost in translation. “Pleasure.”

“Pleasure.” He sort of rolled the word around in his mouth as though it were a foreign concept.

Heat that was definitely not hers rioted between them. And, oh gods, it was delicious. Her muscles trembled with need.

“Yes.” She tried her best not to squirm because this wasn’t at all where she’d intended the conversation to go, and her body was reacting in a highly inappropriate way, given his stance on their…non-relationship.

“You wish me to pleasure you?” Doubt layered the words.

Seven hells. Just the words coming from his mouth had her knees going weak and far more sensitive parts of her body perking up. “Yes.”

He jerked as though he wanted to take a step back—not that he could. But he also didn’t look away.

She took a deep breath. If they were going to go there, she might as well go the rest of the way. “And I want to pleasure you. And make you laugh. And show you things about the world today and—”

His expression went blank, and his arms dropped to his sides. “You pity the pathetic creature from the dungeons of Everest. Is that it?”

“No.” She grabbed his hand, driven by her need to make sure that he didn’t believe his own words. “This isn’t pity, dammit. It’s companionship. And…and…”

“And?”

“Chemistry.” She flung the word at him, frustration driving her now.

He frowned. “I do not—”

Angelika went up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. A soft, sweet, barely there touch.

Airk went utterly still at the contact for half a heartbeat, and in that blip of a moment, despair snuck in as she anticipated another rejection. And why wouldn’t he reject her? It would be just one more way she’d failed. She started to pull away. To give up—

He groaned as though in pain, then slipped his hand under the heavy fall of her hair to cup the back of her neck and urge her closer.

Of their own volition, her arms crept up around his neck, and Angelika pressed herself to him as their lips collided, but with such desperate need, it took them a second to line everything up right. The kiss took off from there. They melded and meshed, pressed and released, and came back together with a shocking desperation that overwhelmed her and flooded her senses.

Where did he learn to kiss like this in captivity? Her mind paused at that as he gripped her hips, pulling her harder against him. Who cares, because…damn.

He took over, kissing her the same way a drowning man might hold on to a rope in a storm, as though she might anchor him to this world by her touch alone. She moaned into his mouth at the taste of him, smoke and bourbon and cherries, like his scent. The velvet sweep of his tongue—questing and yet commanding—sent every pulse point into fluttering overdrive while at the same time blending with a sincere jolt of shock.

She’d kissed other men. Humans she’d been around when she’d been in hiding, and a wolf shifter, just the once. None of those experiences had gone like this. Felt like this. Unexpected and so immediately consuming, shutting out the rest of the world and cocooning them together in what could have been a different universe for all she cared.

All she wanted was…more.

“No.” Airk thrust her away hard enough that she stumbled back. “This cannot happen. No kissing, or mating, or friendship,” he said. “Especially not with you.”

A jolt of spiky hurt knocked her to the side, and she said nothing as he stalked from the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, she slumped against the cool wall, tipping her head back to stare blindly at the stone ceiling.

That could have gone better.