Mate Dance by Amber Kell

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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