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Felix
“Where are you taking me?”
“Shut your damn mouth.”
Felix had been around enough assholes in his life to know when he should fight and when he should stay quiet. He’d lived with Ursula for so long that he understood perfectly well how to mask his emotions, how to hide himself. When people knew how you were feeling, it was easier for them to hurt you.
Felix had learned this the hard way, and he’d done so in order to survive.
Apparently, he was going to have to start polishing this skill because it was going to be very important, very quickly. Orion wanted something from him. Maybe it was information or directions, or maybe it was just pain. Maybe Orion wanted to hurt him the way he’d been hurt by Ursula.
Felix closed his mouth, willing himself to stay silent. Orion moved swiftly through the darkness of the forest, carefully stepped over fallen branches and stray rocks. Felix wasn’t light by any means, yet Orion carried him like it was nothing at all.
As Orion hauled him deeper into the forest, Felix tried not to worry too much about Tabitha. Was she okay? What had happened to her? He knew that Orion had thrown her and hurt her. If he hadn’t, she would have stopped him.
She would have done something.
She was his girl.
Felix wiggled and tried to change into his dragon form, but found that the shift wouldn’t happen. Something was wrong with him. Felix felt both irritated and annoyed. He should have told his mate. She would have understood.
Maybe she would have even known a spell for fixing whatever the problem with him was.
“Stop moving,” Orion snapped.
“Or what?” Felix felt irritation wash over himself.
Orion stopped suddenly and dropped Felix to the ground. He was weak and dizzy. He couldn’t move or fight, which was both embarrassing and disappointing. He should have been able to move. At the very least, he should have been able to shift part of his body so that he could claw at Orion.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Orion snapped, looking at Felix. He shook his head. “You’re weak. Pathetic. You’re nothing like the dragon I remember.”
“Dragon isn’t my name.”
“If Ursula says your name is Dragon, then it’s Dragon.”
“She’s dead,” Felix managed to get out. “She gets no say.”
“We’ll see about that,” Orion muttered. He walked to one of the large trees and grabbed some of the vines. Tugging, they fell to the ground.
“You can’t tie me up,” Felix said.
“Why? You can’t break out of them. Apparently, you’ve got limp little spaghetti arms,” Orion rolled his eyes. “What are you going to do? Slap me?”
Without another word, Orion grabbed Felix’s hands and started winding the vines around them. This was a show of power just as much as it was exerting control. Felix couldn’t fight, so Orion was going to make him pay for that with his own humiliation.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I’m not.”
“Whatever happened, I didn’t do it,” Felix continued.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then tell me. Let me understand.”
If he could get Orion to share what had happened to him, then maybe he’d be able to find out a way to satisfy both of them. If Orion could talk about what Ursula had done or explain what had upset him so terribly, then maybe – just maybe – Felix would be able to get away from him.
He didn’t know what was happening to him, but he knew that he needed to get to Tabitha. The only time he didn’t feel so violently weak was when he was close to her. He wasn’t sure what exactly had caused him to weaken, but there was something about Tabitha that gave him strength.
Maybe it was because she was his true mate, or perhaps it was just her. She had so many qualities that made her wonderful. She was brave. Bold. Interesting. Perhaps most of all, she was curious.
Then there was the fact that she was unconditional in her adoration for him. Nothing about Tabitha was ever black and white. She wasn’t the kind of person who needed him to be strong in order to be valuable to her. She didn’t care if he was brave or weak or wild. She didn’t care if he was broken.
The only thing she cared about was loving him.
The only thing she cared about was his heart.
Perhaps that was the strangest thing about her. When Felix had been conquered, captured by Ursula, he’d never felt truly free or loved. He’d never felt like anything would ever be okay. Now that he was loved by Tabitha, he felt like his world was constantly on fire but in the best damn way.
Now that they were a couple, he felt like he was going to be fine. He knew in his heart that no matter what happened to him, everything was going to be okay...except for now because he’d gone and gotten himself kidnapped.
Orion managed to hoist Felix back up and he kept walking. He wasn’t sure whether Orion was unusually strong or Felix was unusually light, but the man made carrying another person seem easy.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Why are you taking me?”
“Because you and I need to have a little talk.”
“We can talk here. It’s quite nice out.”
Orion scoffed, but shook his head.
“I’ve been living outside for the last six years,” he told Felix. “Outside is the last place I want to be.”
“I could help you leave the island,” Felix offered helpfully.
“I don’t want anything from you except your pain,” Orion said.
So that was it.
Orion was going to make him pay for Ursula’s sins, and he was going to do it by causing him pain. From the sounds of it, there was going to be a lot of pain involved. Felix frowned. He didn’t like being bounced around like a little kid. He didn’t like being treated like this.
His inner-dragon started to claw, begging to come out. Felix would do anything to be able to shift right now and tear Orion to shreds, but he was helpless. He was trapped, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Nothing.