Mate Dance (10 page)

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