Page 44 of Claim the Light
I’m startled by this possibility. “Old magic? Creatures of old magic are extinct.” I pause. “At least, they’re supposed to be.”
Micah shrugs. “I wish she were here so I could ask her.” His expression becomes even more solemn. “Old magic shouldn’t be messed with. Sometimes I wonder about the blood that runs through my veins, but all I know for sure is that some part of a wolf’s nature survived within me. I’ll never be sure how it happened. Only that I am what I am.”
He falls silent and I want to respect that this might be the end of the conversation.
“I understand if you don’t want to talk about her any further,” I say.
“It’s okay.” He takes a beat. “I mean,I’mokay.” His voice hardens. “What happened to her was not fucking okay at all.”
“She died giving birth to you, didn’t she?” I ask. “Like all non-dragon mothers do.”
Callan’s mother was human, and she died after he was born. With dragon shifters dying out, some male dragons turned to other species for procreation. They did it knowing full well that the mothers wouldn’t survive.
Fucking barbaric.
Even Tyler had a human mistress whom he hoped would fall pregnant when I couldn’t give him a child. Not that he ever considered thathemight be the one unable to have children.
I was grateful when Callan outlawed all relationships between dragon shifters and humans. I didn’t want blood on my hands. But… Tyler’s mistress drove me to desperation and I’m ashamed of the action I took to try to get rid of her. In the end, Callan bribed her to go away.
She never even knew the danger she was in.
“Lana’s mother is the only non-dragon I’m aware of who survived the birth of a dragon child,” I say quietly.
Micah gives a small nod, but none of his anger has abated. “Lana’s angelic power was stronger than her dragon power, so she was born an angel. That’s how her mother survived.”
In Micah’s case, everything I’ve heard about his family history indicates that his father was deeply in love with his mother. Taking the risk of getting her pregnant doesn’t match with the love I’ve heard existed between them.
I choose my next words carefully. “Your father must have been devastated when your mom didn’t survive.”
Again, Micah nods, but he’s closed off from me now, his expression far away. “His pain was part of him. But I could never forgive him. He said he loved her, but he knew the risks. He knew her chances of survival were slim to none. I hated him for the choice he made. And then…” Micah swallows. “Then Leon told me what my father wouldn’t speak about.”
I wait for Micah to continue, not wanting to push him.
“It was Mom’s choice. She believed there was a chance of survival and she wanted to take it. She wanted me that badly.” He gives a heavy exhale. “Dad never forgave himself for agreeing to it.”
“Fuck,” I whisper. “Protection versus control.”
Micah nods. “He taught me to protect the ones I love, even if it means stopping them from doing things they want to do.”
I give Micah a small smile. “No wonder you were so angry that night I was trying to turn myself into bait to draw Tyler out.”
My heart hurts to remember it. Callan and Lana had disappeared and I’d thought the Scorn had been responsible. I wanted to get inside the Scorn clan and take them all down. I deliberately put myself in harm’s way so that the Scorn would catch me and take me to Tyler. It was my way of getting inside their stronghold.
It was also completely reckless.
But I didn’t care about my own safety at that point. My heart was hurting too much.
Now, Micah’s rage at my actions makes a whole lot of sense. He got in my way and took the Scorn dragons down. He refused to leave me to face the danger I’d welcomed.
It’s also even clearer to me now why he would hide his pain from me and want to be strong for me.
But I need him to know that we can do things differently.
“My father sold me to Tyler,” I say, making Micah stiffen beneath me. I hurry on before he can speak. “I mean, of course, that’s not how anyone characterized it, but that’s basically what happened. I had no dragon power. I was physically weak. Worthless, in my parents’ eyes.”
I swallow. “My father convinced Tyler that if he married me, he would become the next alpha of the Dread. He gave Tyler everything that should have been mine, including the dragon’s gold that belonged to me. Tyler would let me wear the gold to parties or to the Hollow Rose—that’s Callan’s club—so other dragons saw me wearing it. They’d never suspect I didn’t control my own gold. But Tyler took it off me as soon as we got home.
“My mother went along with all of it. She never stepped in. In fact, she told me repeatedly what a shit wife I was. For a long time, I believed her.”
