Mate's Kiss: Royal Dragon Curse Read online

  Levi held her gaze for a long time. he wanted to argue, to remind Eden how much the little worm deserved to be squashed. Nothing he had ever done had been to benefit anyone but himself. It was no matter to him who he had to use to get what he wanted. Like his sweet, sweet, Eden. Why did she want him to pass up such a fantastic opportunity to get rid of their problem once and for all?

  Seeing the tender look in her eyes, Levi really began to let her words sink in. Regardless of how much he loathed it, Eden was right. He wasn’t like the cruel men of the Kingdom. While Levi was a ruthless and clever fighter, he never did anything that wasn’t necessary; he didn’t go out of his way to inflict harm on others—even if they honestly did deserve it.

  Hesitantly, Levi removed his foot from Darian, making sure he was completely passed out before he stepped back. Making it only a few steps, Levi’s body gave out on him. He had pushed himself to limits he had never gone to before. Eden hovered over him, telling him to stay calm, everything was going to be fine. Her hands hovered above his scales, her eyes fluttering closed as she began to meditate to heal him. Levi’s face was numb, despite the blood gushing from it. As he looked up to Eden, however, he smiled inwardly. He knew that he would have fought Darian a million times over if it meant that Levi could be with Eden—his angel.

  13

  Eden had no idea how much time she had spent healing Levi, but she assumed it had to have been a while when her cellphone began to ring in her pocket. Cursing under her breath, she answered the call without bothering to look at the caller ID. She knew who it was.

  “Dad,” she said, “I was held up. I’ll be there in ten minutes, I hope.”

  “This is extremely unusual, Eden, and my patience is wearing thin.”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming. I’ll explain when I get there,” she insisted before ending the call. She didn’t have time for his badgering. Eden felt as though her heart had been put through a blender. In those few seconds when she had been certain Levi was dead, her world had stopped turning. Her entire being had braced for the pain of losing a mate.

  Gazing down at Levi now, Eden sighed. She had already managed to heal all the gashes which had needed immediate attention. She had also healed the burn on his face. Levi was still littered with small scrapes and bruises, but he would be all right. Once she was certain he had no other obvious injuries that needed to be taken care of at the moment, Eden used an abundance of caution to shake Levi awake. He stirred, though his eyes didn’t seem to want to open. During his unconsciousness, Levi had shifted back into his human state. Thankfully, Eden had the time to retrieve him some new clothes from the bags in the truck and wrangle them onto him. That way, once he was awake, all they had to do was make sure he was all right and drive up to the estate.

  At last, slivers of yellow flashed up to her. “Eden?” Levi croaked.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, unable to keep her concern from her voice.

  Levi lay there for another minute, slowly moving all of his limbs and surveying his body. “Not bad, actually… Sore, but I’ll live. I’m guessing thanks to you.”

  “You were an absolute idiot,” Eden criticized sharply. “Things didn’t have to get so violent. I can’t believe you struck him first!”

  “He was doing everything except quite literally asking for it.”

  Eden’s gaze shifted nervously to Darian. He hadn’t moved at all, but even at that distance, she could see the rise and fall of his chest. Part of her had been thrilled at the prospect of watching Darian die, but it disgusted her that she had felt anything other than pity. Darian wasn’t worth their anger, and he most definitely wasn’t worth them turning into people they weren’t. Shaking her head, Eden turned her attention back to Levi. Carefully, she helped him to his feet, making sure to take it slow in case he was still dizzy.

  “We still have to go see my dad,” she reminded him.

  “Right,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Let’s go do this.”

  “What should we do about him?” she asked, nodding to Darian still lying in the road.

  “It’s a private road,” Levi said. “It isn’t like he’s going to get run over. I’m sure one of his friends will come along and help.”

  Eden left it at that and climbed into the truck with Levi. Once the engine started, it was only five minutes until they were pulling up outside of the estate. There was an eerie atmosphere about the place, as if she already knew most of the occupants were gone just by looking up at it. There had always been dozens and dozens of people wandering around its halls. For there to be almost no one… It was unsettling.

  Walking hand in hand with Levi, Eden led the way through the foyer and down one of the hallways. There was never any guessing as to where her father was when he wanted to talk to someone. Her eyes nervously flickered from the door of Carlyle’s study to Levi. Even with scratches and bruises, he still looked strong and determined. His strength was unmatched. If Eden had just fought like that, she would be lying in a hot bath, not going to meet a man that absolutely despised her.

  When she pushed the cracked door open the rest of the way, Carlyle Tallant came into view. As always, he sat in his favorite chair with a drink in hand. The second he glanced over to her, his eyes became as round as the moon, and he jerked out of his seat.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he snapped, glaring hard at Levi.

  “Father, hear us out,” Eden pleaded.

  “Hear what out? How you’re trying to sully our family name by turning your back on a promising warrior to go shack up with a vigilante? A man on the lamb? The head missing from my mantle piece?” Carlyle seethed, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Levi.

  “Do you love me?” Eden shot at her father.

  He was thrown off by the suddenness of such a random question. “What sort of question is that, Eden? Of course I love you! It is why I want the best for you. Darian is that.”

  “Yeah, well, Darian’s lying in the road just outside of your estate,” Levi stated coldly.

  Carlyle’s lip curled into itself. “You monster. Normally, I would have been overjoyed to hear that you were skulking about. To hear it was my daughter’s room you were found in? I wish you would have just stayed gone.”

  “Father,” Eden interjected tenderly. “Levi saved me from Darian. He was just using me to get into the family. He didn’t care what he had to do to make it happen!” Carlyle opened his mouth to interrupt, but Eden pressed forward. “Levi saved me from Darian! He tried to strike me, and Levi intervened on my behalf!” Her father’s mouth had opened again to take control of the conversation, but he was frozen once he heard that Darian had attempted to assault her from her own lips.

  “He what?” Carlyle growled.

  “He isn’t who you think he is, Father,” Eden continued. “Or, at least, he had some intentions you weren’t aware of. Admittedly, I had been yelling at him just as much as he was me. What would he have done if Levi hadn’t been there, though? What do you think that says about his behavior behind closed doors?”

  Carlyle didn’t have a response to that, cutting his eyes away. Eden knew that he would never say it, but he was embarrassed for being wrong about the arrangement. He sank down into his chair and rubbed his temple with one hand.

  “What does all this have to do with him?” he nearly spat before taking a deep drink of his drink, gesturing to Levi.

  “Well, he’s… We’re…” Eden scanned Levi’s face as he peered back down at her. She wasn’t sure how to word it in a way that her father wouldn’t lose his mind, but there was no gentle way that she could think of.

  “We’re mates,” Levi spoke for her. He then walked across the room, and Eden watched as her father recoiled with narrowed eyes, bracing himself from an attack. However, Levi sank down in the chair across from him. “And I think there’s a chance we can talk about this civilly and sort it all out.”

  “What’s there to sort?” Carlyle scoffed. “You are a rogue. You can’t be with my daughter.”


  Eden sat down in the chair next to Levi and sat as properly as she always did, but this time with an arm draped over to Levi’s chair to rest a hand on his arm.

  “Then we’ve come to a roadblock with our understanding, Carlyle. Because I’m going to be with her,” Levi said evenly. His voice was without anger or attitude; it was rational and matter-of-fact. “Nothing is going to stop me from being with my mate. Not even you.”

  “Like hell!” Carlyle was on his feet again. “You’re a traitor, an anarchist! I will not have my family soiled by you. Why, you should count yourself lucky that you’re not dead yet!”

  “I don’t think I’m lucky to be alive. I’m thankful, yes, but not lucky. I beat your best warrior, old man.”

  “Is that a threat?” Carlyle hissed. “A threat against the crown is enough to get your ashes shipped to your mother.”

  “It wasn’t a threat,” Levi replied. “It is a fact. Don’t be so quick to forget the reason I went against him was for your daughter. To protect her and her honor.” The bite had returned to Levi’s voice, and Eden did her best to keep face. They were getting nowhere. The men were going to go around and around in these vicious circles and maybe never see eye to eye. Where would that leave Eden? Where would that leave hers and Levi’s future? She couldn’t even imagine how they were going to get out of that situation.

  “I can respect that you protected her, but I cannot respect this union,” her father declared. “You are not a member of the Kingdom, and I simply won’t allow it. I will have you both in chains before that day comes.”

  “Father,” Eden called with a crack in her voice. “You need to remember that we did not choose this. It was predetermined, and we cannot fight it. Believe me when I say I tried to, but he’s my mate! This is something that will only happen once in my lifetime! Are you going to make me miss out on that or go through hell to have it? All because you have different political views?”

  Carlyle shook his head defiantly. “Oh, please. You act as though I don’t know how serious the concept of soulmates is. Your mother was mine, and I know how consuming it is. It doesn’t matter, though. Not when there’s the greater good to think about.”

  There was a thick silence for a while, none of them knowing what to say in response. Carlyle was unwavering with his stance. Tears stung Eden’s eyes as she was overcome with both anger and gloom.

  “What would have Mother thought of this?” she asked quietly.

  Her father’s eyes darkened then, looking at her in a way that made her feel like an ant: small and so easily crushable that he wouldn’t have to put any thought into it. “Do not play that card, Eden. I’m warning you.”

  “I—I’m not playing a card!” Eden stammered while she attempted to remain strong. “I want to know what you think Mother would do in this situation. What would she think of me? Of Levi and I?”

  Carlyle shuffled uncomfortably, wanting to fight back, but the mention of her mother, whom Eden was the spitting image of, cracked his resolve. Yet again, her father fell back in his chair, rubbing his face and looking close to tears. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and eyes undecipherable.

  “She would have been on your side,” he admitted. “Look, I know that a bond is sacred and is out of our control. But darling, I cannot budge on this. He isn’t in the Kingdom. Our people will not accept it, even if I wanted to...” He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “And you know I cannot let you go away with him, Eden. It would disgrace our family, and we’re already trying everything we can to save face.”

  As much as Eden tried to hold back her tears, she could feel warm droplets beginning to slide down from the corners of her eyes. That was that. Carlyle was starting to see their side of things, but it still couldn’t be. Eden felt absolutely hopeless for the first time and wanted nothing more than to crawl up into a ball and weep. Everything was ruined. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Levi, knowing that she would burst into tears at the sight of him. She would cry for the loss of her soulmate, the loss of their future, the loss of half of herself.

  As she unraveled mentally and emotionally, a movement brought her attention back, still fearing violence to spark with either man. Levi was calmly stepping toward Carlyle. Eden’s jaw dropped at the same speed Levi took to kneel.

  “What if I rejoin the Kingdom?” His face was dark yet humbled.

  Eden’s breath seized in her throat. Was this really happening? She quickly became certain that she had to be dreaming. Levi was passionate in his way of thinking, which Eden had grown to understand, even if she did not necessarily want it for herself. He was going to give up his life of a rogue to be with her?

  It was then that she realized just what their bond really represented. It was the notion that no matter the personal stakes in a situation, you would do everything you could to be with your mate. Not because you knew you had to be together—rather, because of the feeling that settled deep in your chest at the sight of them, at their presence near you: an undeniable and unwavering feeling that was like a magnified version of the moment a couple falls in love. It was that hopelessly romantic feeling of knowing that was the person you would spend the rest of your days with. The end all, be all, the person you would take a bullet for. And it never went away. Even when Levi infuriated her, that feeling was still there in the center of her chest. Eden had been at war with the very existence of that feeling since the moment it had bloomed in her chest.

  Levi kneeling before her father was the embodiment of that bond.

  Carlyle arched a brow at him. “Are you kneeling before the Crown?”

  “I am,” Levi stated hoarsely. “I’ll accept you as… as my king and rejoin the Kingdom if that’s what it takes to be with Eden and for this all to end peacefully.”

  “That’s a mighty sacrifice to make,” Carlyle commented in a distant voice. His eyes fixated on Levi, drinking his actions in. Eden saw the same light in her father’s eyes that he always had when he got a taste of power. The first rogue returning to the Kingdom to marry his daughter.

  That’s a headline, Eden thought smugly as she reflected on the comment Darian had made earlier. “Are you sure about this?”

  “As sure as I’ll ever be.”

  There was a long pause before Carlyle spoke. He left Levi kneeling there as he reached to the side to pour himself another stiff drink. When he turned his attention back to Levi, he gently swirled his glass.

  “This is not some empty promise,” Carlyle stated. “If you rejoin the Kingdom, you must stay in it. There will be no sly acts of joining and waiting for everything to settle, then running off with my daughter in tow. My men will hunt both of you down, and I can assure you, it’s not something either of you wants.”

  “I know,” Levi said. “I do not plan to do anything but be a subject to the Crown and live peacefully with my mate.”

  “I don’t want you to be a subject. I want you to be a warrior.”

  Levi’s head jerked up to look at Carlyle. Eden could tell her father was serious, and Levi surely saw the same thing. Slowly, Levi shook his head.

  “I will respect and rejoin the Kingdom, but I do not wish to be a fighter. I want to be home with Eden.”

  Her father seemed unamused by the answer, grimacing as he raised his glass to his lips. “You’ve wounded my best warrior, making you the best fighter in the Kingdom. We need strong men like that.”

  Levi shook his head again. “I will not join the warriors.”

  “Father,” Eden chimed in. “Please, be reasonable. He’s already making a huge decision. He’s going to respect you and our laws. Can we not just leave it at that?”

  Carlyle sighed dramatically, drinking down the amber liquid in his glass. “Very well. Fine. For now, this will do. If something arises, though, I will expect you just as much as the rest of the men in the Kingdom to be ready to defend our people.”

  “If it comes to that,” said Levi, “I will.”

  “Another condition I have,” Carlyl
e continued, “is that the two of you must marry within the year.”

  Eden and Levi exchanged looks, and Eden’s heartbeat was in her ears. Without exchanging any words or gestures, Levi looked back to the king. “Done.”

  “Well, then, I see no reason not to allow you to rejoin,” Carlyle announced. The edges of his mouth pulled into a politician smile that Eden knew all too well. “You’re hereby granted residency within the Kingdom. I highly advise for the both of you to stay within the estate until announcements are made to let everyone know what has happened today.”

  Levi slowly rose from his kneeling position and looked back to Eden. Without thinking, she launched herself from her chair and at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding tight. His arms enveloped her, squeezing her as he nuzzled his face into her neck. After a moment, Levi lowered her to her feet and peered over to Carlyle. “Thank you, sir. This… this means the world to me.”

  “Speak no more of it,” Carlyle said with a wave of his hand, as if to dismiss it. Eden knew her father, though, and he drank gratitude and thankfulness almost as well as he did power. To be adored and to have all the power over the Kingdom was all he had ever wanted. “Off you both go. I have some calls to make.”

  Like teenagers, they hurried out of the room before Eden launched herself at Levi again. She tackled him to the floor and attacked his lips with hers.

  “I can’t… believe… you did that… for me,” she managed to make out between kisses. She was overwhelmed and overflowing with admiration for her mate.

  Levi forced her back just a bit so that he could look her in the eyes. “I mean it when I say I would do anything for you. This was…” He paused for a second. “This was hard, but not nearly as hard as the thought of losing you.”

  Eden leaned back down to kiss him. “You’re amazing. I hope you know that.”