A dragon shifter novel Chapter 91

The Pillow Incident.

Kael

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“And how do you suppose we find the Demon King?” I ask Evander, deadpan, because if I don’t joke, I’ll choke on the panic.

He huffs and throws his hands up, as if the world is a math problem he has forgotten how to solve. “I don’t know! But if she’s not with those two jerks, then she has to be with him, right?”

Right. Because magical logic is never neat. Because bonds are messy, impulsive, and apparently also idiotic. My hound is restless in my mind; he wants, no, needs her just as badly as I do. We spent weeks ignoring that thrum, pretending the pull wasn’t there, driving myself insane with restraint from what I knew I needed. Now, restraint feels like a betrayal. Now the bond’s been handed to us like a hot coal, and she’s gone. I should have stayed at the festival. I should have planted myself at her side and announced to everyone she was ours in the loudest voice I had. I should have claimed her in front of the idiots, the professors, and the moon. Instead, I left, and now–now we’re three steps behind something that should have been obvious from the start.

I turn on my heel and start back down the corridor before I fully register where my feet are taking me.

“Where are you going?” Evander calls, catching up in two strides.

“I’m going to break into her room and smell her sheets before my hound sets this whole place on fire,” I say, and immediately realise how ridiculous it

sounds out loud, but it’s true, I need any part of her that I can get right now. Maybe I’ll feel less like a claw–stripped animal pacing a cage if I can just smell

her.

Evander snorts, but follows me anyway. “Don’t get arrested.”

“Arrest me and I’ll chew through the bars,” I reply. My mouth is dry, but the grin is real. “Besides, if anyone tries to stop me, they’ll meet the very angry

hellhound who misses his mate.”

We move faster–the dorm light pools through windows, speculative and sleepy. I pass doors with names and notes stuck up like small flags. Outside her door, I pause, hand hovering. My scalp prickles. My hound’s senses are already picking up faint traces of her. I fully plan on kicking through the door if 1 need to, but Evander steps around me, placing his hand on the door. It unlocks with a quick click, and I glare at him

He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Yeah, we found out that the doors also recognise their residents‘ mates as well

“And you didn’t think to tell me that?”

He shrugs as I barge past him, “I forgot, okay. There’s been a lot going on lately.”

The room is not empty in the way I dread. It’s lived–in, but there’s no Ally in the bed. The sheets are tossed, a jacket thrown over a chat itabook for down on the desk with a pen tucked into the spine. Her scent is faint–the sort of ghost–of–her that makes my throat tighten instead of swast striding to the bed, grabbing her pillow and pressing it to my face. I take one big whiff and my hound cases up just a little, jul enough to make the apper ture slightly into sadness.

“Mate? My bound whinipers.

“Mate” is all 1 manage to say bath to the big puppy dos

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If some bad tulle werk that I spend my weed in the Shade Reat being sker with the Tama King, mely

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12:52 pm pppp.

The Pillow Incident.

wholesome abduction in Thornbill history.

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Rhareil didn’t just show me his kingdom; he showed me his world. The dark ground that thrummed with magic, the endless spires that shimmered like obsidian glass, and the air, alive with whispers and ancient power. The demons there weren’t what I expected either. Sure, some looked like nightmares carved from smoke and fire, but they bowed to me like I was one of them, maybe because Rhazeil looked at me like I was. We had breakfast together, twice, technically. The first one was an “official” meal: silver goblets, black fruit that glowed faintly, and coffee strong enough to kill a god. The second one was at e cliff overlooking the kingdom, where he tried to make pancakes. Tried being the operative word. The great and terrible Demon King burns pancakes. Apparently, that’s just part of his charm. And honestly? The big scary demon everyone trembles over? Yeah, he’s basically a giant, overpowered, overdramatic pussy cat. A possessive, occasionally terrifying one, but still. He softens around me. And when he said he’d bring me back, he meant it. One second, I’m laughing at him for trying to brush syrup off his tail. Next, the shadows gre curling around us, cool and smooth, and then, we’re in my dorm room.

Or rather, we drop into my dorm room. Right in front of Evander and Kael. For a split second, no one moves. The magic still hums in my veins, the smell of smoke and shadow thick in the air. Rhazeil’s hand is still on my waist, warm and steady, while I blink through the shift, trying to ground myself. And then I see them. Evander is wide–eyed and tense, his wings threatening to flare from under his skin. And Kael–oh gods, Kael–standing dead centre in the room with my pillow clutched against his face like a lifeline. He freezes. His nostrils flare, eyes flicking from me to the pillow, back to me. For half a heartbeat, the room is pure silence. Then realisation hits him like a truck. The pillow drops. Thump. He stares at me like I’ve just risen from the dead. Evander’s already moving, stepping closer, eyes flicking between me and Rhazeil like he can’t decide which of us to throttle first. I raise my hands slowly, trying not to laugh, because honestly? The look on Kael’s face is priceless.

“Hi, 1 manage, voice half–choked with amusement. “Miss me?”

Rhazeil’s arm tightens slightly around me, a low, satisfied rumble in his chest. “Told you I’d bring you back,” he murmurs against my ear.

Kael’s jaw drops. Evander’s dragon energy is practically vibrating the floor. And me? I’m just standing there, in my dorm room, smelling like demon magic

and smoke, staring at my two very pissed–off mates…This is going to be fun.

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812

12:52 pm Pppp.

Thornhill Academy

Many Heartbeats.

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They close in on me like a tide, under first, all coiled and lethal, eyes sharpening until I can practically see the scales under his skin. Kael comtes in from the other side after reclaiming my pillow. He’s slower, quieter, but the way his fingers twitch by his hips says he’s waiting for a reason to move. Between them and Rhazeil, my chest feels like a crowded room.

“Where have you been?” Evander’s voice is low enough to rouble through the floor.

Kael doesn’t speak, just narrows his eyes and scents the air like he’s trying to read my weekend off my skin. He’s holding my pillow under one arm like it’s precious evidence, and like that hadn’t been the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. He looks ridiculous and ferocious at once, and it almost makes me laugh, which would be a terrible idea.

Rhazeil watches them with that unreadable tilt to his head, then chuckles. The sound is warm and amused and somehow ten feet deep. “She was safe,” he says, simply, “She will always be safe in my realm.”

“And where is your realm?” Evander snaps. “How do I–how do any of us–get to her if she’s there?”

Rhazell’s smile is small, indulgent. “You cannot. You are not a demon. The shadows do not open for those who are not of them.”

Evander’s face tightens, but he’s not finished. “She’s not a demon.”

“No,” Rhazeil agrees. “But she is mated to one. That status… elevates her. In my realm, she is Queen in name and in right. She may come and go as she

pleases. She may bring light where light is scarce.”

For a sliver of a second, Kael and Evander both just stare at me. Kael’s mouth is open like he’s going to protest something, but no words form. Evander’s

fingers twitch at his sides, a tiny, furious staccato movement that makes my heart misbehave. The look on his face is so raw. Equal parts fear and a kind of aching protective claim, that if I let it, I’d fall at his feet and beg him to breathe,

Instead, I raise my hands in that “I got this” way.

“All right,” I say, light and loud enough to slice through the air. “Everybody, breathe.”

They both make ugly, sceptical faces, but neither moves away. Rhazeil’s hand at my waist is steady and possessive; the warmth of him anchors me in a way

nothing else does.

“There’s more than enough of me to go around,” I tell them, grinning because I can’t help myself and because the thought of them lighting over two enormous, ridiculous protectors I apparently have, is so absurd it almost makes me dizzy. “Nam a big girl, I can look after mysit

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Evander’s jaw works. Kuel’s fingers flex. Rhazeil’s expression softens into something that might pass for pride

“If I’d wanted to, I add, leaning into the joke, “I could have made him bring me back the second I asked. But we had a lonely weekend.”

“Weekend Evander’s vice is small, incredulous,

hell its shilder, as if time were an easy thing to fald “Time befiaves differently there. Days are long, and sights finger Tike a Mobited hearthings but for you, just an hour.”

Evander geallows. The disgun within him chisels grief and relief, and a thread of guilt, is his inationes. “I wor

wwmple.

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12:52 pm Pppp.

Many Heartbeats.

You have nothing to worry about,” Rhazeil murmurs, and there’s steel under the velvet promise. “She will always be safe with me.”

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It’s the kind of thing that could have set them off, sparked something ugly and territorial. Instead, the tension in the room shifts and softens, Evander’s shoulders lose a fraction of their hard line. Kael lowers the pillow and sets it on the bed like a small truce. Rhazeil loosens his hold on my waist just enough so I know it’s voluntary, not enforced. They trade a long look–predatory and weary and, somehow, respectful–and I see it settle between them: an understanding as old and stubborn as the moon. No competition. No ill will. Different shapes of protection, same fierce intent. They are all bonded to me. They will all guard me. They all, in whatever combustible ways their natures allow, will keep me. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear and let myslell believe that for a second.

“Good.” I say, soft but certain. “Then we can all work together. I like the idea of teamwork.”

Kael snorts. Evander gives me a half–smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Rhazeil hums, pleased.

Evander steps forward, unable to hold himself back any longer. He leans down and kisses me. The taste of smoke and heat, along with something sweet, fills my mouth, grounding me. When he finally pulls back, his forehead rests against mine, and his breath ghosts across my lips as he whispers, “I missed you, pet.

A giggle escapes me before I can stop it. “It’s only been an hour,” I tease, even though the warmth in my chest says I missed him, too.

Evander grins and glances over at Rhazeil with a spark of humour in his eyes. “No,” he says, mock–serious. “You heard the Demon King. It was many heartbeats.”

The line is so perfectly ridiculous that even Rhazeil laughs, low and amused, his dark eyes crinkling in a way that makes my stomach flutter. Kael snorts,

shaking his head, muttering something about sentimental idiots, but there’s the ghost of a smile tugging at his mouth too. When I turn to Kael, he’s already

watching me, his expression caught somewhere between guilt and longing. I give him a small smile, hoping it’ll help. “So,” I say softly, “would this be the

reason you’ve been avoiding me?”

He blinks, caught off guard, and for a moment, the big, scary hellhound looks more like a boy caught stealing cookies. His throat works before he clears it and shifts his weight, suddenly unsure of where to put his hands. “I…” He trails off, shakes his head, and finally steps closer. His hands find mine, rough palms curling around my fingers like he’s afraid I’ll pull away. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry, Ally. I—*

He doesn’t finish. The words just crumble in his mouth, lost to something too big to say out loud. I squeeze his hands, my heart twisting at the rawness in his voice. Slowly, I lift one hand and rest it against his cheek. His eyes flutter shut, and he leans into my touch like he’s been starving for it.

“It’s okay,” I whisper. “We’ve got plenty of time to work on it.”

Kael exhales, something casing in his posture as he opens his eyes again. For a second, I see that spark, that fierce, protective hound beneath the guilt. is nods once, a silent promise in the gesture. Evander’s hand finds the small of my back, grounding me between them, and even Reil som content to watch, the faintest trace of a smile playing on his lips.

Does this make you happy, hummingbird?”

“It does.”

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