Raven spun around to see his lover towering over
him. Kaemon's eyes glowed brightly. For the first time,
Raven saw the dragon peeking out at him.
"An old friend. He called to tell me we were up for
an award. I need to do a performance with him at an awards
ceremony in a couple of weeks."
Looking into Kaemon's eyes, Raven's back itched.
Reaching back, he tried to scratch but couldn't quite reach
the twitchy spot.
Kaemon stepped forward. His hands slid behind
Raven and scratched, hard. Oh, bliss.
"And this old friend is going to be there with you?
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This old friend who says he loves you before he hangs up?"
Raven crooked an eyebrow at Kaemon. "And how
would you know what he said?"
Kaemon gave him a sexy smile. It lit up his entire
face and made Raven want to strip naked and offer himself
as a sacrifice to his favorite dragonkin. "I have excellent
hearing, and I eavesdropped." He said it casually as if he
didn't understand why Raven might have a problem with it.
Raven rolled his eyes. He obviously needed to pick
his battles carefully.
"I'm sure that was just an automatic statement.
Something he tells everyone when he hangs up."
He almost convinced himself it was true.
The prince continued to glower at him, his lush
mouth pressed into a thin line. "I don't want you to be alone
with him."
"What!" Raven's mouth dropped open as he realized
Kaemon looked completely serious.
"I don't trust this man who claims to love you and
finds a reason for you to dance with him." Kaemon ran his
hands up and down Raven's back, completely derailing his
thought process.
Raven was going to argue as soon as he collected
his thoughts. Right now, Kaemon's touch was making his
mind go fuzzy.
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"So you'll take a chaperone wherever you go,"
Kaemon commanded.
Raven laughed. No amount of scratching could get
him to overlook that statement.
"I'm not some sheltered virgin. I can take care of
myself."
"No. You can't. It is my job to take care of you. I'll
have one of the guards escort you about. It will save you
from having to push away unwanted advances." Kaemon's
tone left no doubt in Raven's mind that the advances better
be unwanted.
Sometimes it was better to give in gracefully and
fight another day.
"As you wish, lover," Raven said. Going up to his
tiptoes, he placed a kiss on Kaemon's cheek. "I wouldn't
want you to worry."
The prince wrapped Raven in his arms even as he
looked at his lover suspiciously. "Why do I worry more
when you are agreeable?"
"Because you are a smart, smart man," Raven said
before bringing Kaemon's head down for a passionate kiss.
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CHAPTER FIVE
Raven was relieved to find out they were
performing at the same theater where he'd danced at a few
nights ago. It would be easier if he didn't have to get used
to a new stage as well as learn a new number.
Evan raced down the steps to meet him.
"Raven," he shouted, his handsome face lighting up
as he saw Raven exit the chauffeured vehicle.
With a laugh, he grabbed Raven and twirled him in
the air.
One guard plucked him from Evan's arms while
another slammed Evan to the ground.
"What the hell?" Evan shouted, looking up at the
large guard who had his foot on Evan's chest.
"The prince doesn't appreciate others touching his
mate."
"He was my lover before he was the prince's mate,"
Evan protested, his green eyes shooting daggers.
"Now he's not," the guard said, his hand on his
weapon.
"There's no need for that," Raven said, escaping the
guard's hold. "Evan is a dancer. We're notoriously a
touchy-feely group. Let him up."
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The guard assessed him for a moment, but when
Raven didn't back down, the other man shrugged and
stepped aside.
Raven helped his ex-lover to his feet.
"Sorry about that, Evan," he said in a low voice.
Evan gave him a weak smile. "That's all right. I
don't blame
you
." He gave the guard a glare, letting him
know whom he blamed. "You said dating, not mate," he
whispered.
"We'll talk more later. We're not doing the entire
dance, are we?" Their entire performance was thirty
minutes. Raven couldn't imagine the awards people wanted
them to take up that much time.
"I thought we'd do the second half. It has the most
acrobatic work and should appeal to the largest group of
people."
Raven searched his memory. "That would work. I'm
a little rusty on it, but it was a good number."
"You should think so. You choreographed it," Evan
said, laughing.
Raven shrugged. "I don't always like everything I
choreograph later on."
Evan swung an arm around Raven's shoulders,
giving him a one-armed hug that even the guard couldn't
find objectionable. "I missed you, Raven. I haven't seen
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you in too long."
"We've both been busy."
Raven smiled as he walked into the theater, and
everyone clapped at his entrance. He stepped away from
Evan and gave an exaggerated bow. "Thank you," he said,
blowing extravagant kisses to the sounds of his audience's
laughter.
* * * *
The afternoon passed with the sound of feet hitting
the wooden stage floor over and over. Routines long
forgotten slid back into Raven's muscle memory as his
body flowed through the movements as if it had been
yesterday and not a year since he'd last performed those
steps.
They finished the number, maneuvering their bodies
in and out of each other's space in complicated movements
that brought the stagehands and onlookers to their feet.
Raven flipped over Evan's back and landed solidly on the
balls of his feet.
"I think we did that well," Evan said.
They bowed to their makeshift audience, wearing
wide grins.
"We have two more rehearsals scheduled," Evan
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said as they went back to the dressing room to change.
When Raven stripped off his shirt, he saw Evan
staring at his back in the mirror.
"You have seen me naked before," he reminded
Evan, startled by the intense expression on his ex-lover's
face.
"Yeah, but that was before you got that tattoo."
Evan walked over and touched Raven's back. "It's
amazingly realistic. Who did it? I might want to get one
too."
"What are you talking about?" Raven asked crossly.
He was tired after the dance, and all he wanted was a nice
bath and a nap in his lover's arms.
"Your dragon tattoo," Evan said.
"Dragon tattoo?"
Evan spun Raven around so his back faced the
mirror. An intricate tattoo of a bronze-colored dragon
covered his entire back.
"I'm going to kill him," Raven said with complete
conviction. Kaemon hadn't mentioned a tattoo. Not once.
* * * *
The first person Raven saw as he stormed through
the castle was Ms. Starny.
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"Have you seen Prince Kaemon?" Raven asked.
"No, sir, I haven't," she said with a frown when she
caught Raven's expression. "Is something wrong?"
"He tattooed me!" Raven shouted. Nowhere in
discussing the mating situation had Kaemon ever
mentioned a giant tattoo across his back. Raven wondered
what else the prince had left out.
Ms. Starny took a step back.
"I beg your pardon?"
Raven spun around and lifted up the back of his
shirt. "See?"
"You're right. He did mate with you," Ms. Starny
said in a sad voice. "I'm sorry I have to do this."
Before Raven could ask her what she was talking
about, everything went black.
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CHAPTER SIX
Kaemon checked the time again.
"I don't think it's gotten much later in the past few
seconds," his father said, laughing. "He'll be home soon."
"He's practicing with an old flame. What if he goes
out for drinks or something afterwards?" The thought of
Raven getting chummy with his ex-lover sent acid churning
in Kaemon's stomach.
"First of all, the boy's nuts about you, and secondly,
you sent him with a bunch of guards. Look, there's Sallen
now." He pointed towards one of the guards Kaemon had
sent along with Raven.
"Sallen, where's my mate?" Kaemon asked. He
glared at the guard, certain it was the other man's fault that
his lover wasn't next to Kaemon, where he belonged.
The guard frowned. "I thought he'd be here. He
discovered the tattoo on his back, and he was furious." The
guard gave a sheepish smile. "I have a side bet going that
he'll punch before he yells. He's got a bit of a temper that
one, though I think he was more upset you didn't tell him
about it."
Kaemon's stomach went into free fall. "Send out the
guards and search the property. Something has happened to
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Raven."
"What makes you think that?" the king asked,
jumping to his feet.
"If Raven was coming to yell at me, he would've
come straight here. How long ago did you get here?" he
asked Sallen, who was calling for backup on his
communicator.
"Thirty minutes ago."
"Dragon hell," Kaemon cursed. "He could be
anywhere."
The guards fanned out. Kaemon waited impatiently,
going over in his head where his lover could've gone. It felt
like forever before Sallen returned.
Trisha came running into the room. "Ms. Starny is
missing." Tears tracked down her face.
"What do you mean missing?" A cold chill filled
Kaemon.
"She was supposed to meet me for tutoring but no
one can find her. She's not in any of her usual spaces and
the guards say she didn't answer her door when they
knocked."
"Let's go search her room."
Maybe they could find a hint about who might have
taken them. Since they didn't know where Ms. Starny was
when she was abducted, her suite was the best place to
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start. Kaemon worried that it was the same person who
poisoned his coffee a few weeks ago. When nothing else
had happened he'd let his guard down even though he kept
a couple of guards on Trisha at all times.
Fifteen minutes of walking and a quick swipe of the
master key and Kaemon entered the nanny's bedroom. Two
steps into it he stopped, bile rising in his throat. The wall
was covered with pictures. A few photos of him, but mostly
pictures of Raven. Dozens of Raven. Raven walking in the
garden, talking to Kaemon, and talking to Kaemon's father.
It wasn't so much the pictures but the words
scrawled across them.
Must save him.
Oh fuck.
With a roar, Kaemon shifted into his dragon form.
His mate was in danger and nothing was going to stop him.
* * * *
Raven woke up, freezing. It took a lot of blinking
before he realized it wasn't his eyes that weren't working. It
was the fact he was in a dark cellar. The floor was so icy he
felt it through his thin pants.
Shivering, he looked around, trying to figure out
where he was.
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"You're in the wine cellar," a voice said in the
darkness.
He heard a sizzle and then a spark went through the
air before the light evened out, and Raven could see Ms.
Starny in the light of a candle.
"I had to save you," she said in a calm voice. "It's
for your best interests that you get away from that beast."
"What beast?" Raven asked, but he had a good
feeling he already knew.
"That monster that claimed you as his own," she
said. Hatred was so thick in her voice Raven was surprised
he couldn't see it in the air.
"Prince Kaemon?"
"Yeah. You are too precious and fine to belong to a
beast. I will help you run. We can find a new planet to hide
on together."
She gave him a look she probably thought was
alluring, but it made Raven's stomach churn. Spikes of pain
jabbed through his head, and a touch to his scalp came back
sticky.
"Sorry I had to hit you. Luckily, we were close to a
hidden entrance to the cellar or I might not have been able
to drag you away, but now that you're awake, we can plan