She was right about one thing. He was much, much older than her. That was part of the reason he’d kept his distance in the past. She’d come to the temple as a very young woman just discovering her magic back then. Even as an immortal, she had been an extremely young one.
He wondered what it would take to claim a girl who resented him in every way and throughout multiple lifetimes. He could even sense she was still a virgin. He just didn’t have time for that, no matter how much he ached to make her his.
The trade routes between St. Louis and the Great Lake region was still in question. The humans of St. Louis needed constant attention and reassurance that he wasn’t going to eat them all alive in their sleep.
If his brother Orion hadn’t had a mental breakdown after the death of his wife, he never would have asked to take the position as Alpha. He never would’ve felt it necessary.
But Orion’s incompetence over the last two thousand years had forced his hand. He had started asking Orion to hand over Alpha a thousand years ago, during a time when humans were burning each other at the stake and had fallen into severe superstition.
Since the dark sun, two years ago, murders between humans were on the rise. Crime was rampant. In the areas outside the cities, armed militias had taken over the job of law enforcement, but their moral character was questionable at best. Not to mention the crazed immortals roaming the land, raping, pillaging and devouring whoever they pleased.
Titus never got a break from it. And now he had this newly awakened immortal child he was supposed to claim, mate with, and impregnate with his dragon kin. He couldn’t have asked for a more difficult situation if he’d tried.
“I don’t need this,” Desdemona said turning to him.
“This is your room,” he said flatly. “It’s right across from mine. So I can keep an eye on you.”
“What do you think I’m going to do? Leave? If I was going to leave, I would’ve done it back in California.”
“Who knows what kind of trouble a nineteen-year-old witch can get herself into.”
“Who knows?”
“I certainly do not. But you and I are equally involved in this. We therefore must see it through. I will be taking you to dinner this evening. Please dress appropriately.”
“What? You don’t like my witch robe?”
“The garment is fine. But it is not the style in this region. It’s a style worn only in the temples. And it may seem odd out in the restaurants downtown.”
“I don’t really have anything else to wear. Besides maybe, you know, worn out jeans and work boots from the compound I lived in for the last two years. Without electricity,” she added as a jab.
“FYI, I’m not the person to blame for the Dark Sun. Even though I feel like you want to blame me for everything that ever went wrong in your life for the last two thousand years.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Your bratty tone of voice.”
“Who are you calling a brat?” she scoffed.
Titus pressed his lips together, stifling a laugh. She was clearly a brat and the fact that she resented being called one he found incredibly humorous.
“If the shoe fits…”
“I’m going to need new shoes too. I’m assuming you’re going to take me out to some big fancy restaurant, considering I’m in this big fancy penthouse. I have absolutely nothing to wear to something like that. Unless you want to be embarrassed in front of your peers, I suggest you find me some other clothes to wear.”
“I will have one of my servants attend to you.”
“Don’t you think you should take me? You know I haven’t been claimed yet. Any immortal could swoop in and take me at any moment,” she said with a sarcastically paranoid tone.
He gave her a dark look. But she did have a point. As annoying as she was being right now, he did need to claim her to fulfill his role and duty as Alpha.
Desdemona belonged to him, even if she was a nineteen-year-old brat. In her previous life, she hadn’t been such a little snot. But now? He was having a hard time believing it was the same person, no matter how hot his inner dragon was for the young priestess.
“I will find more time out of my busy schedule to take you shopping. And then I will take you to dinner. And then I will promptly claim you. And then we will no longer be forced to see each other every single moment of the day.”
“You think I’ll be that easy?” she asked, a challenging look on her face.
“I don’t think you know what this is,” he said crossing the room to stand in front of her.
He towered above her little frame. He could smell her magic but he knew she was still inexperienced. Being this close to the heat of her body excited him and his inner dragon roared for satisfaction.
Over the last two thousand years Titus had had any human female he had wanted at any time. It was not difficult for an immortal male to find willing female humans. Gama’s spell had left immortals the ability to mesmerize, and every immortal he knew had taken advantage of that. It allowed them to maintain their great wealth as well as find great pleasure in the flesh of their human companions.
“I don’t think you know what this is,” she said, her voice trembling.
He placed his hand on her bicep, squeezing the muscle gently. Her eyes flashed, leveling a steely gaze up at him. He could hear her heart beating wildly in her chest and the scent of rising desire from between her legs.
Her innocence was an intoxicating aroma. The dragon inside him roared. He wanted to claim this girl. As much as he had wanted her two thousand years ago, he wanted her more now.
“I know exactly what this is, Desdemona,” he said leaning to whisper in her ear.
His hypersensitive eyes saw the shiver run over her flesh and his dragon’s senses picked up the change in her pulse. She resisted him but he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“How much do you remember of the past, little human?” he asked her.
“I’m not a human. Remember?” she asked pulling away.
“Right,” he said, fixing his suit jacket and standing up straight. “You are a witch and you have a duty to the immortals of the world. Unless you want it on your shoulders when Xander enslaves us all.”
“I thought you were different from the rest of them.”
“Different? How?”
“I thought that you found this whole mating thing ridiculous. But now I see you’re a big guilt tripper just like everyone else.”
“We each have our own burdens to bear, young Desdemona. Now, please. Come with me and we will see about outfitting you with some new shoes.”
Chapter 8
Desdemona followed Titus down the hallway and into an elevator where they stood on opposite sides, riding down silently to the ground floor. They emerged in the lobby of Silverdrake Tower and crossed the wide marble floor that was inlaid with the crest of his clan. Before the dark times, people thought such things were mere decorations. Now everyone knew their true meaning. The silver dragon coiling around the star was the ancient crest of the Silverdrakes. And they placed it on each one of their real estate holdings.
Even with the trauma and stress of the Dark Sun and the resulting necessity to reconstruct the entire human civilization, Titus was relieved to have his magic again. The utter relief of his dragon vibrated in him every day. While he had supported the alliance and the right of humans to live freely without immortal interference, he’d hated the veil.
Titus may not have been the most cooperative immortal on the planet today, like his brother Orion. But he believed all beings deserved to live free. No human, no immortal, and no God should be a slave or a slave owner. He would believe that to the end of his days.
But now here he was, escorting this child down the street to buy her new shoes. He could be her father many, many times over. But he had to mate with this woman and be her match. As if a five thousand-year-old dragon could be the husband of a nineteen-year-old girl. It was preposterous. Even if his feel
ings for her still burned like an eternal flame.
“We have reconstructed the stores throughout much of the downtown. The immortals and humans alike enjoy going back to the way things were as much as possible. I think you will find what you need in this store,” he said, pointing to a luxury boutique.
Her eyes lit up when she looked at the brightly lit store window with designer shoes and handbags on display. She clapped her hands together in excitement but then looked up at Titus and went back to being a surly teenager. He almost rolled his own eyes at her attitude. They walked inside and the human attendant immediately came to help them.
“Lord Silverdrake,” the woman said, bowing.
Desdemona looked from the woman and to Titus and scoffed. She clearly did not take Titus as seriously as the people of St. Louis now did.
Titus took the admiration with swift graciousness. Humans tended to want to follow the strongest leader, not unlike immortals. But humans could be so simpering, it turned his stomach sometimes.
“This is my bride-to-be, Desdemona Hawthorne. She needs new shoes.”
“Your bride? Has there been an announcement? Everyone will be so thrilled. Congratulations, sir,” the woman said enthusiastically.
Several other women emerged from the back storeroom and started gushing about their wedding.
“Will it be a big event?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” Titus said.
“Oh yeah. It’s going to be a huge wedding. All the immortals are coming. You can call me Lady Desdemona. Look what I can do,” Desdemona said, singing out a few notes that made the papers on the counter begin to float into the air.
The human women turned and gasped at the sight.
“We’re still ironing out our plans,” Titus said. “Darling, why don’t you try on some shoes?” Titus said.
The last thing he wanted was a wedding, let alone a huge wedding with every immortal they knew.
“It’s going to be a big event,” Desdemona said, not shutting up. “That’s why we are going to need at least six months to plan it. We’re waiting for our wedding night for him to claim me. Isn’t that romantic?”
Titus was losing his patience with her behavior. These women were notorious gossips and he knew that the news would spread throughout the city in no time at all. Now he would be locked into whatever it was that Desdemona chose to tell people. He was seriously questioning the wisdom of his decision to offer her his rose.
“Sweetheart,” he started. “Let’s not bore them with the details. We are here for shoes, remember? I’m taking her on a romantic date later,” he said, addressing the clerks. “She used to live in a rustic compound with no electricity, and now she’s going to be my bride. Isn’t she lucky?”
Desdemona looked up at him with shock and her eyes, but her expression changed quickly, seeing that he was matching her challenge. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.
“Yes, we are going to have the most romantic dinner. But no hanky-panky afterward. We are waiting for a wedding night. In six months.”
“Sweetie, these ladies don’t want to hear about our personal life.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” said one of the saleswomen.
Titus picked up a pair of gold sequined shoes and shoved them into Desdemona’s hands. “I think these would be perfect. Don’t you?” he said. “Now it if you’ll excuse me ladies, I need to make a phone call outside. Try to get her all set up, okay? We’re going to have a fabulous evening.”
He quickly left the store and emerged out on the sidewalk, the cool St. Louis air nipping at his nose. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so irritated. Not even the Dark Sun could compare to the inconvenience of a nineteen-year-old girl who had her heart set on irritating him. And she had succeeded. Now he remembered why it had taken him so long to commit to her in the past. She may be a completely different person now, but she wasn’t that different. Orion had said it was because they were equally matched. Titus thought it was because Desdemona had a serious character flaw. Namely her immaturity.
His glass pad pinged in his pocket and he pulled it out to see that Ajax had contacted him. He flicked over the screen and answered his nephew’s video call.
“What is it Ajax? I’m very busy right now.”
“I heard you brought a bride back from the temple. Good job, uncle. Now you are a true Alpha.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“You know how I wanted to get the games going again? Well I’ve been talking to the guys and we’ve set up several immortal teams. We want to use the Superdome to play. I told them you wouldn’t mind.”
“You told them wrong.”
“Come on Titus. I have as much right to use the Superdome as anyone.”
Ajax flipped off his glass pad screen and disappeared from view. Titus was dealing with a monumental amount of immaturity today. Ajax was two thousand years old and should not have been acting like an adolescent human. But he was. Was Titus the only adult left in the Silverdrake clan?
Orion had shirked his duty the second his wife had come back into his life. Ajax was more concerned about playing football than he was about reconstructing the city and providing electricity to the starving and dying humans. And the woman who was supposed to be his bride was trying to put off their claiming for another six months, if she ever let him claim her at all.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long low growl. Responsibility had never been his strong suit. He simply didn’t like seeing senseless death and destruction. Since the responsibility of Alpha had fallen on his shoulders, he had done his duty. He’d even found a bride and brought her home. What more did these people expect from him?
Chapter 9
Desdemona smirked as she watched Titus leave the shoe shop. The women were gushing over her and offering her numerous pairs of shoes to try on as she sat down on a comfortable little chair. In the end, the pair that Titus had flung at her ended up being her favorite. Not because he had chosen them, of course, but because they were actually really cute. Since she was now some kind of princess or something, she decided to buy six different pairs of shoes.
“What are you doing?” she asked Titus as she walked up beside him on the sidewalk.
“Already keeping tabs on me like a jealous wife, are you?”
“What do I have to be jealous of? I’m the one with the magical womb.”
“I was always under the impression that women preferred their men to be faithful,” he said.
Desdemona’s mouth dropped at that. Was he suggesting that he would cheat on her? They hadn’t even kissed yet, and he was already wanting to conquer some other woman?
“Seriously?” she asked, looking up at him under her eyelashes.
“I was speaking with my nephew, Ajax. He wants to reopen the Superdome and have immortal football games. I think it’s a ridiculous idea, but there’s nothing I can do to stop him.”
“Don’t you think it would be fun to have something to do other than to sit around your penthouse and brood?”
“What makes you think I sit around my penthouse brooding?”
“You just seem like the broody type, that’s all.”
“Let us cease this pointless discussion and find you a dress to wear for dinner. We are, in fact, trying to get to know each other so we can be a happily married couple for the rest of our immortal lives.”
“You seriously don’t think this is going to last forever, do you?” she asked with a laugh.
They didn’t even like each other from what she could tell. Even her memories of their past were riddled with feelings of anger, jealousy, and disillusionment. If he was five thousand years old, that meant she could live to five thousand years too.
She really doubted that she would spend the next five thousand years with this guy. She wasn’t required to spend the rest of her life with him, as far as she knew. The temple only expected her to accept a match and then have his baby. His claiming bite would fend off any other immortals.
That meant she could never have another immortal mate. It didn’t mean she had to spend the rest of her immortal life with Titus.
“It will last as long as it needs to. And that’s all either of us needs to be concerned about right now. Regardless of the future, my dear, in the here and now, you and I must be matched. You must be claimed, and we must bare a child to ensure the Silverdrake line. My brother Orion already has a daughter and a son.”
“He’s not even an Alpha,” she said as she followed Titus down the street to the next boutique.
“The agreement about alphas and kings mating first was decided in the last several months. It was a way to ensure the clans and covens were doing their best to ensure the family lineage, strength, and power. However, I doubt heaven and Earth could have kept Orion from Lucia.”
“Unlike you, right?”
He turned to her and looked straight into her eyes, making a shiver run down her spine. No matter how much she disliked him now, there was something about him that made her damp and weak in the knees. She bit her lip and looked away, but he caught her chin with his index finger and forced her to look back up at him.
“Neither of us is doing this because it’s what we want. We do it because it’s what we must do. You would be wise to learn that now while you’re young. It will help you to stay out of trouble. And to have realistic expectations about your life.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to marry me?” she said with mock shock.
“I thought it was clear.”
“What about two thousand years ago? Did you not want to marry me then either?”
“What happened between us in the past has nothing to do with what is happening now. Now, I believe you can find an appropriate garment in this shop. I am sure that the saleswomen can attend to you.”
“You aren’t going to help me pick out a dress?” she whined, trying to annoy him.
She didn’t know why she enjoyed it so much, but irritating Titus Silverdrake had become her new favorite thing. From the little she remembered about their old life, and their previous association, she knew that this man had always gotten under her skin. The same was true now. Even if she didn’t quite know why.