How To Claim Your Dragon [Eternal Flames 4]

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

"Jett, you wanted to see me?" Illan asked.

Jett swallowed and felt tears forming in his eyes. Sadness consumed him. The pain of being rejected by his mate, being mind-f****d by that asshole, fighting and hurting his twin, it was all just too much. He hated leaving the people he had known and grown up with since birth, but he also knew it was for the best. He had reached a point that the pain was so fierce he was almost numb to it.

"Sir, I'm here requesting a transfer, effective immediately," Jett said so softly Illan had to lean in just to hear him.

Illan's brow rose. "You want to return to Denver?"

Shaking his head, Jett rasped, "No, sir. I―I want to go to Maine."

"You want to leave our clutch?" Illan gasped.

Jett nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Look, Jett, this thing with Zev is hard. I wish I could smack some sense into him, but ultimately it's his choice. I can only say he will come around," Illan replied gently.

"Sir, it's more than just Zev I am struggling with. It's everyone. Why is it that no one has ever said anything to Zev about the way he treats me? Why is it always, Jett, behave? Isn't the idea of being a part of our clutch, so we have each other's backs? Where has everyone been for me?"

Illan's eyes went wide. "Jett──."

Jett was not in the mood for being placated. "I remember growing up, and I would laugh at the smallest things in life. I would see the butterflies as they went from one colorful flower to another, and I could listen for hours as the birds would sing from the sky and trees. Now I don't laugh. Oh, I pretend to, but I don't find anything funny anymore. I walk through life, and I don't see anything in color anymore. Everything to me is gray and dull. I eat a lot but taste nothing.

There is no meaning left in my life, Illan. I walk alone, and I feel alone. Nothing interests me or matters to me. I exist and have done so for far too long. I need to leave. Maybe─maybe if I go somewhere else, I might be able to live again. Right now I am just dead inside. I'm not a man.

I'm not a dragon. I am nothing."

Sighing heavily, Illan wiped his face and then looked at Jett closely. "I know that things have been rough for you for a while now. I know I failed you as a leader. I also know that your pain is dictating your actions. So I'm going to make you a deal. I have a friend of mine in Pennsylvania.

He's a Grizzly shifter. His sleuth runs the east coast fire stations. His group of shifters is not the norm, Jett. They are animals of all kinds. He takes those in that may be looking for a better life or just need time to get themselves back on their feet. You go there and get away from things for

a while. If in six months you still want out of the clutch I will release you. Since our clutch is all that's left, it will have to be either to Nick's sleuth or another predator group. That is the law of our people."

Jett wiped the lone tear the fell down his cheek. "Thank you, sir."

"Are you sure you won't change your mind?" Illan asked compassionately.

Shaking his head, Jett couldn't seem to disguise his pain. "No, sir. I can't do this anymore. The guys think of me as a joke. They laugh at Zev's reactions to the stupid s**t I do, like it's funny that my mate is rejecting me over and over. Well, they either think it's funny, or they look at me with pity."

Illan stood up, mouth agape. "Jett, no one thinks you're a joke. We just don't know how to help you."

Shrugging, Jett rasped, "There's nothing you or anyone can do. Zev doesn't want me. I don't know why. I mean, he was willing to mate with that woman Dallas all those years ago. Yet, with me, he won't even smile in my direction. Maybe he hates me for getting in his way. I don't know.

I just can't do it anymore. I have nothing left in me, sir. I feel lost and alone, and I guess Keith was the final straw. I mean, my mind is my own, you know? It's like I have Zev screwing with my heart and now Keith with my mind."

Jett held back tears. He refused to cry. His body was taut as a bow string. He had to suck it up and do his best to move forward now.

Jett watched as Crystal disappeared from his rearview mirror. He sighed heavily and looked back to the road ahead. As much as this hurt, he knew it was what he had to do. What he needed to do.

There was no life for him in Crystal and too many memories back in Denver. He needed to make a fresh start.

Yeah, it would be strange not having his twin, Finn, around. They had spent their whole lives together, but maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe starting over and just being Jett instead of being a part of the matched duo of Finn and Jett would be just what he needed.

And maybe putting a whole country between him and his mate would help him to get over Zev

finally. He had given Zev enough time and patience to accept who they were to each other, but the man never did anything to acknowledge their mating. Zev had denied Jett for years as Jett stood by and tried to give the man all the room he needed. He never forced himself on Zev or pressured Zev to accept him, and that had been pure torture at times.

When a shifter is lucky enough to find their one true mate, the need to be with them is nearly overpowering. Some don’t understand the pull to another immediately. They don’t always

recognize the signs, or the urge to be with that person. But when the realization of who that person is to them snaps into place, it’s almost impossible to ignore. The clawing need inside builds until you have no other choice but to be with your true mate. And he would know. He had been fighting the need for too long.

His friends, and even his brother, had no idea how hard it was to keep fighting the need to be with his mate. To keep denying his dragon. Sure, on the outside he appeared to be okay. But on the inside, the struggle was torture. It was draining. As long as he was around others, he had always been able to mask the pain. But when he was alone at night, in the safety of his bedroom, the pain always came out. The nights were always the hardest.

In the beginning, his brother and friends had tried to comfort him, but soon that turned into pity.

He hated seeing that in their eyes. And all it did was anger his beast, making it hard to control the dragon. So Jett did what he did best. He had used humor to cover his pain, and eventually, they all stopped looking at him with pity.

But since his friends were now starting to find their mates, the fight was getting harder. And having to stand by and witness how quickly they accepted their matings, knowing his mate still denied him, was pure hell.

A single tear escaped Jett’s eye and rolled down his cheek. He swept it away quickly and

tightened his hold on the steering wheel. No more. He had spilled enough tears over the years, and he refused to waste one more for Zev. He had finally resigned himself to the fact that the man didn’t want him, and he never would. The last words his mate had said to him pushed that fact home, and it became painfully clear. w***e. The word echoed through his head over and over again.

At the moment it fell from Zev’s lips, it had hit Jett like a tsunami and something inside him broke. As he stared at Zev after the hated word was uttered, he knew his fight was over. He and his dragon were finally in complete agreement for the first time in many years. They were done.

They would spend no more time or energy fighting for something that would never be. It was time to move on.

So now here he was, heading into the next chapter of his life. Maybe he would be able to find someone who would finally accept him for who he was and love him. He felt a metal door slam around his heart for Zev. There was no more room inside him for the man. He only hoped it

didn’t stop him from accepting the love of another.

Jett reached down and flicked the radio on. Music filled the cab of his truck, and Jett smiled at the song. “Here I go Again” by Whitesnake. Jett turned up the volume and sang along at the top of his lungs as he put more miles between him and his past. It was time he left them all behind.