Defy The Alpha(s) 2: Rebel Beast

"Pain could humble a dragon, or it could teach the beast how to become crueler."

~Rebel Beast

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Thamas was riling her up on purpose. Tamara could see that much. He must still harbor some resentment over her rejecting him, and now he was trying to make her jealous by using Charlotte of all people.

Tamara scoffed. He really needed to grow up.

Determined to show him that his pathetic little act wasn’t affecting her, she turned away and focused her attention on Quest.

"What is this I hear about you trying to hurt the human?" she demanded, the anger returning to her voice.

"Hurt is putting it mildly," Thamas cut in. "Try murder. He threw her off the third floor."

"She brought it upon herself when she laid a hand on me," Quest growled. "She should have known her actions would come with consequences."

"So you decided to take matters into your own hands?" Tamara snapped. "Or have you forgotten Rhydian’s instructions? No more drama. No more attacks against the humans until the party tomorrow."

Quest’s expression hardened. "Then perhaps Rhydian shouldn’t have broken his own rule by attempting to harm a human in the restroom earlier today. Isn’t a leader supposed to lead by example?"

For once, Tamara was left dumbfounded.

She couldn’t refute that without revealing more than she wanted to, especially when she herself didn’t know exactly what had happened between Rhydian and Aria Aspen. The jewelry weighing heavily in her pockets only made the entire situation more complicated.

So instead, Tamara allowed command to bleed into her voice.

"When I tell you to back down..." Her tone dropped dangerously low, her aura swelling with enough authority that several of the lower-ranking dragons immediately retreated. "You back down."

Quest tried to hold her gaze, his jaw clenched and defiance burning openly in his eyes. But in the end, even he knew when he’d reached his limit. He lowered his head in reluctant submission, though the grinding of his teeth made it obvious how little he liked doing so.

When Quest finally lifted his face, resignation and suppressed anger had settled over his features. His attention shifted toward Thamas.

"A dragon can only hide its true nature for so long."

Thamas’s eyes narrowed at the insinuation behind those words. Was Quest implying that protecting Charlotte was nothing more than an act? Perhaps he needed to work on his performance if even that bird-brained bastard could see through him.

Quest turned back to Tamara. "You’d better keep the humans away from my dragon. Otherwise, you might discover they make quite a sumptuous meal."

He held Tamara’s gaze for another tense second before turning and striding away.

Tamara watched him leave, releasing a heavy breath. What the hell was happening to this house? Aetheris had never been this divided. They fought, certainly. Dragons were far too temperamental not to. But this was different. Ever since the humans arrived, one problem seemed to follow another.

Surely Rhydian had to see that too.

With Quest gone, the crowd quickly began to disperse. Apparently, without the promise of violence, everyone suddenly remembered they had somewhere else to be.

That included Thamas.

"Stop right there!"

Thamas halted with Charlotte still in his arms. Slowly, he turned around.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Tamara demanded.

"What does it look like I’m doing?" Thamas shifted Charlotte slightly in his arms, drawing Tamara’s attention to the unconscious human. "She asked me to keep her safe before she passed out. I’m doing exactly that."

Tamara burst into a short, disbelieving laugh. She crossed the distance between them until she stood directly before him.

"I might believe Quest if he suddenly developed a soft spot for humans, but you?" She looked him dead in the eyes. "Never. I know you too well, Thamas. Your hatred for humans runs bone-deep. One little human girl isn’t going to change that overnight."

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Green eyes bored into black ones as the noise surrounding them faded beneath the tension stretching between them.

Tamara leaned closer, deliberately invading his space until barely an inch separated their faces. They were close enough that all Thamas had to do was tilt his head forward and their lips would meet.

"You’re doing this to spite me," she told him quietly. "You’re parading her around because you think it’ll make me jealous after I refused to be your woman."

"And is it working?" Thamas asked.

Tamara scoffed before lowering her gaze toward the unconscious Charlotte, undisguised distaste crossing her features. "With a pathetic human?" She looked back at him. "You could do better, Thamas."

Thamas pursed his lips as though seriously considering her words.

"Is that so? Fine, then." He turned abruptly and started walking away.

"Don’t harm the human!" Tamara called after him.

Thamas stopped.

"I cannot guarantee what Rhydian will do to you this time if you deliberately go against his orders," she warned him.

For several seconds, Thamas remained with his back to her. Then he glanced over his shoulder.

"Then I guess you never knew me as well as you thought." His gaze held hers. "I’ll do anything to survive."

With that, Thamas turned away and continued walking.

Tamara remained where she was, watching him disappear with Charlotte still cradled in his arms. Her hands slowly curled into fists at her sides.

Aria Aspen was already complicated. Whatever was happening between her and Rhydian meant she couldn’t simply get rid of her without risking the prince’s wrath.

Charlotte, however, was a much simpler problem. One human was already getting inside the head of a royal dragon. Tamara wasn’t about to stand by and watch another do the same.

Charlotte Greenwood had to go. Permanently.

Despite the pain shooting through his injured arm with every step, Thamas continued carrying Charlotte with his head held high. He could feel the stares following him as he went inside, and as expected, the whispers weren’t far behind.

"Dragons above, have the stars fallen, or is that really Thamas Draco carrying a human?"

"Wasn’t he the one who ordered the ravens to attack them? I thought he hated humans. Is this some kind of restitution?"

"Strange things are indeed happening these days. I bet the human must feel lucky. Imagine getting carried in a dragon’s arms after nearly being killed by one. Dreams really do come true."

Thamas kept his expression perfectly straight, coming to an abrupt stop at the sight of the outrageously large winding staircase stretching toward the upper floors.

He looked up. His flat was on the fifth floor.

Fucking perfect.

Under normal circumstances, Thamas could have shifted, flown straight to his balcony, and been inside his flat within seconds. But with Rhydian’s punishment preventing his arm from healing properly, he couldn’t do that.

Inside him, his dragon stirred restlessly, rearing its head against the restraint he’d forced upon it. The beast wanted to heal. It pushed against Thamas’s control and permission to repair what had been damaged.

Thamas forced it back down.

No. He would see this punishment through to the end.

Rhydian had wanted to humiliate him. To teach him a lesson. Perhaps he’d expected him to break beneath the pain and come crawling back with his head lowered.

He wouldn’t.

Rhydian thought he’d broken him. He’d merely awakened something better.

Aware that several students had followed him inside simply to see what he would do next, Thamas tightened his hold on Charlotte and placed one foot on the first stair. Then another.

His injured arm protested immediately but

Thamas didn’t so much as flinch. He continued upward with his back ramrod straight, carrying Charlotte as though she weighed nothing and his arm wasn’t screaming at him.

"Fuck," one of the students whispered from below. "He’s actually going to walk all the way to the fifth floor with an injured arm and the dead weight of a human?"

A female bird beside him released an almost dreamy sigh. "That is the hottest thing I’ve seen all day."

Her friend couldn’t agree more.

"I think I’m starting to like this new side of Thamas."

Thamas heard every word and kept climbing. As expected, he made it all the way to the fifth floor without giving the spectators below the satisfaction of seeing him struggle. He entered his flat and walked into the living room, waiting until the door had closed firmly behind him before finally releasing the shaky breath he’d been holding.

Fuck, that hurt.

For a moment, he simply stood there, allowing the pain shooting through his injured arm to settle. Then his gaze dropped to the human still lying suspiciously limp against his chest.

"You can open your eyes now," Thamas said. "It’s just you and me."

Charlotte didn’t move, remaining perfectly unconscious. Or at least, that was what it looked like.

Thamas stared at her for another second before the last trace of concern disappeared from his face. Without warning, he dropped his arms and Charlotte hit the floor with a heavy thud.

"Ow!" she cried out instantly, curling in on herself as pain shot through her body.

But Thamas looked down at her without an ounce of sympathy in his eyes. His expression was perfectly calm as he said, "Now, we can talk, human."

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