"Gods they're so loud," I mutter.

Jax chuckles, turning over in my lap to look at me. "Do you want me to close the doors?" he asks.

"No," I sigh. "It's nice with them open I just wish they would all go to sleep already."

"It's their break, they're not going to go to sleep for another week at least," he says.

I make a face, my shoulders slumping a little. "Could we send the guards out? Make them at least stay far away from the palace so we can't hear them?"

"I suppose, though there's a chance they consider this payback for all the noise we make," he smirks.

I feel heat rush to my cheeks. "Right, they probably don't appreciate that at all," I mumble sheepishly.

He grins up at me. "If they have a problem with it, they're welcome to complain to me."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah like they're actually dumb enough to tell the dragon king to keep it down."

"True. Well they're starting to get on my nerves too so I'm going to try to send the guards to calm them down," he says.

I move my arms so he can get up and I watch as he sticks his head out the door to speak with the guards. He closes the door a few moments later, an amused smile on his face. "Luka said he was waiting for one of us to send him out, I guess it's getting pretty obnoxious out there and they're driving everyone crazy," he informs me.

"Did you ever party like that on break?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Once or twice, parties were never really my thing. Too much stupidity and too many people. I only went for the music—and the entertainment I guess."

"Entertainment?" I ask as he lays down on top of me, burying his face in my shoulder. I slide my arms around his waist.

"You won't believe the shit dragons do when they're drunk," he sighs. "This one guy tried to put himself through an Awakening so he jumped into one of the volcanoes. It didn't work of course, the flames just burned his clothes off so he ended up skinny dipping in the volcano in front of dozens of other dragons."

"Impressive," I snort. I hear frantic shouting outside and my head snaps towards the balcony doors.

"I think the guards caught them," Jax murmurs.

I crane my head to look at him, running my hand gently through his hair. His eyes are closed but his fingers gently tapping against my chest tell me he's still awake.

"I think I like it better like this," I mutter, brushing the hair away from his face.

"Me too," he mumbles.

A few days ago he dyed his hair; it's still curly but now it's brown like his brother's. It makes his eyes seem an even brighter gold.

"What did your mom say about it?"

"She liked it. Said it makes me look more like dad," he sighs.

My gaze flicks up to the ceiling as the tapping stops. I stare at the glowing red lines, watching as they crawl across the stone in intricate designs. They're almost comforting now. It's like watching him draw.

******

They chase after the two figures but quickly slow as the cliff approaches.

I let out a sharp yelp as Taryn cuffs me over the head. "Get your bow ready," he snarls.

I quickly notch an arrow, taking deep breaths to calm my shaking hands. At the sound of the wolf's growl, I raise my bow and draw back the string.

"Wait until they shift," he orders.

The man leaps off the cliff and I grit my teeth when he starts to shift. I almost cry out when the girl slips and disappears over the edge. Her scream hits my ears; I wince at the fear in her voice.

"Kill the dragon king," Taryn shouts.

My eyes fly wide in realization and I hesitate for a moment. I hear the crack of the whip then the familiar burning pain sears across my back.

I quickly gather up my bow from where I dropped it and raise it. I pull back the drawstring and clench my jaw as tears stream down my cheeks. I aim at the dragon then lift my bow to the sky and release the arrow.

I immediately throw the bow onto the ground, squeezing my eyes shut. I hear a roar and then the girl screams again.

I cover my ears but I can't block out the sound. It rattles me to my core and twists like a knife in my chest.

Victory howls from the wolves soon join the princess' cries in a heart-wrenching symphony, echoing through the canyon and informing every last dragon that their greatest fear has finally been realized:

The King is dead.

******

My eyes fly open in panic. My chest tightens and suddenly I can't breathe.

"Ash!"

I can't see anything. It's all a blur of lights and colors.

I feel hands on the side of my face and something flashes in front of me.

"Ash baby just look at me!"

It flashes red and gold. Then it slows. Red . . . gold . . . red . . . gold. I stare at the spots, mesmerized by the entrancing colors and rhythmic pulsing.

"Baby just breathe," he whispers.

I suck in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. My mate's face comes into focus after a few minutes. He pulls me against him and I press my face into his chest, gripping his shirt tightly.

"Are you okay?" he asks gently.

"Why won't they stop?" I rasp.

"Believe me Ash I wish I could take them away. I wish I could take away everything those bastards did to you," he growls, hugging me tighter.

Warmth surrounds me as I curl into his chest. I close my eyes, breathing slowly and deeply. I feel him kiss the top of my head.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"No," I say quickly.

"I didn't think so," he sighs. "Well I need to go to the healer for a minute, do you want to come with me?"

I sit up fast. "Wait why—" I stop, my mouth falling open in horror.

Jax's arms are covered in deep scratches, there are even a few on his face and neck. I look down at the blood staining my hands and my stomach turns.

"Oh gods I'm so sorry—"

"Hey it's okay," he says in a soft voice. "I know you didn't mean it."

Tears run down my cheeks. I hurt my mate. "Jaxon I'm so sorry," I whimper.

"Ash it's okay. I promise it's okay," he says, offering me a small smile. He wipes the tears off my face and kisses me gently. "This wasn't your fault. You understand that right?"

I give him the tiniest of nods. He takes my hands and pulls me off the bed. "Come on, let's wash the blood off."

I follow him into the bathroom, not saying a word as he uses a wet cloth to clean off my hands. I can't stop staring at the scratches.

Most were shallow but some were deep, deep enough to scar. I swallow hard, glancing down at my own arms. If only I could feel the pain I inflicted on my mate.

It's a good thing you can't. You'd probably feel worse, Cassie says.

I don't care, I deserve to feel the pain I put my mate through.

No you don't. You didn't do it on purpose and Jaxon knows that, she says firmly. Don't cause him more pain by torturing yourself about what happened, it wasn't your fault.

******

It's still dark outside but the moon provides enough light to see. It reflects off the fresh layer of snow that seems to grow taller every minute.

"Okay we have clean blankets now," I hear Jax say.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, rubbing my arms as the wind picks up for a moment.

"Come on Ash, you're going to freeze out here," he tells me.

I sigh, stepping back inside. He closes the balcony doors behind me then crosses his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow at me.

His arms are almost completely wrapped in bandages along with his neck. The two gashes on his jaw are stitched up but the healer didn't bother putting a bandage on those ones.

"You should have just let Azazel heal you," I mumble.

He shakes his head. "Not right now, the last thing I need is to freak everybody out in the middle of the night and bring the idiots back outside after the guards spent an hour breaking up their party. Plus it's cold," he adds with a small chuckle.

"Yeah," I murmur.

"Come on."

I let him pull me to the bed where he plops down with a sigh. I crawl under the blankets and he wraps his arms around me.

I bury my face in the crook of his neck, relaxing almost instantly as his warmth surrounds me. I shift a little and he winces sharply. I jerk back, my eyes wide. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to—"

"I know you didn't mean to, it's okay," he says quickly.

I bite my cheek. There's no sign he's lying but I can't make myself believe him. I lay back down, deliberately keeping a small distance between us.

Jax suddenly tilts his head. "Can you smile for me?"

I pause. "What?"

"I want you to smile, you look upset and I don't want you to fall asleep like that," he says.

"But I am upset. I hurt you. I promised I would never do that."

He raises his eyebrow. "First of all, you didn't do it on purpose. Second, it's just a few scratches, I'll be fine. I've had much worse injuries than this," he chuckles.

When I don't say anything he pulls me closer to him and plants a soft kiss on my lips. Then he starts running his fingers down my spine as he places light kisses all the way down to my neck. His fingers move all the way to my lower back and begin tracing my tattoo.

"I'm glad you got this," he says.

I clench my jaw. "Yeah I figured I should probably make myself an official warrior—"

He pulls away, shaking his head. "No I like it because it looks so damn sexy when I'm fucking you from behind," he growls.

My eyes widen and I try to keep a straight face but the corners of my lips curl upward almost immediately as a deep blush creeps onto my cheeks.

He smirks triumphantly. "There's that beautiful smile."

******

Okay what POV do you guys want for the next chapter? I would suggest choosing either Angel or Tay since I haven't done their stories in quite a while but it is up to you guys :)