"Val, what the fuck," Apollo hissed, stripping off his clothes.
"He needs to know that this fucker is going to be even worse in real life. He needs to be able to control it," Valentine argued back.
Apollo, Reeve, and Bas shifted effortlessly, shaking their large dragon forms and prowling about the field, readying for the fight that could come.
"You know Carlo is going to provoke you and Marcella, and fuck knows what his mother Renata will be like if Marcella is afraid of her," Valentine said to Cosimo, his dragon rising and making his scarlet eyes shine brighter. "They might threaten to keep her. It could all be a trap to get her to go back to Forli."
"No one is taking her from me." Cosimo whirled on Valentine, grabbing him by the shirt. "She is mine.Mine."
"She is no one's because you haven't claimed her." Valentine knocked his hand away. "Would you even fight for her if they try to take her from us? Or are you going to be scared to step in because you don't want to tell her how you feel?"
"Val! Stop it," Lachlan said, taking a step back out of the way. "That's enough."
"It's not. He needs to remain calm, or he'll end up killing them all in a tantrum. Come on, Dad. Let it out." Valentine's body shimmered with scarlet and black before twisting in on itself and shifting.
Despite his fury, Cosimo stumbled back from the sight of the huge three-headed dragon. Valentine's wings opened, showing the scarlet on the fine membrane of his wings. He roared in challenge, and Cosimo screamed back at it. He could feel the dragon holding out, refusing to be provoked to reveal itself.
I won't do it for you. I will only do it for her,the dragon lashed out at him. Cosimo scratched at his skin, trying to free the scales beneath it.
Please, please stop. We can't make demands on her until she's ready for us. If you keep fighting me, we won't be able to protect her! Do you understand? We are going into enemy territory tomorrow. We have to make peace so we can look after her,Cosimo tried to reason with it. He was on the ground, his clothes torn from his scales and claws shredding them.
I will help you protect her from them. In return, you will fight for her.The dragon in him finally relented.We need our mate. She is ours. You know it, you just won't admit it.
Something deep in Cosimo's chest crumbled, the truth of the dragon's words pushing past all his protective barriers to the rawest, most vulnerable part of him. It had been trying to tell him the truth since he had first scented her. Cosimo refused to listen, and even his sons suspected the truth. Now he couldn't fight it anymore.
I know we need her. We will have to work together to protect her and make her ours.
Cosimo tried to tell the dragon without words that she wasn't going to be won over by a few charming smiles, that the wounds left in her heart were deep when it came to trusting or loving. They had both vowed that they were incapable of loving again.
The dragon listened for once before it said,We will heal her wounds and our own.
She might not let us,Cosimo replied. Marcella was so strong, so independent.She won't give in to us easily.
I wouldn't want her to.The dragon's excitement was palpable.It is not a worthy hunt if the prey gives in too easily. The harder she fights, the sweeter her submission will be.
"Gods, don't think like that," Cosimo muttered. The thought of Marcella pinned under him was more than his control could handle.
I will stop hiding that I'm attracted to her, but you have to let her come to us. It must be her choice,Cosimo insisted.
The dragon growled,Agreed.
They had a plan, and the beast settled into his skin, leaving Cosimo aching but calm.
Lachlan's face hovered above him. "You okay down there, Cosimo?"
Cosimo let out a tired, shaky laugh. "Despite being covered in dirt and blood? Yeah, I think I am."
18
Marcella had barely slept the night before, even though it had helped spending the day with the Greatdrakes women. Marcella got the distinct feeling that they didn't want her to be alone with her thoughts, and she was so grateful, she could have wept.
Charlotte and Yelena had changed her wards and cleaned off the lingering feeling of Carlo's magic sliding around the building.
They had made small protective charm bags of red felt to carry in their bras, and Marcella had been overwhelmed with affection for all of them by the time they had left.
She was growing to admire and genuinely like the whole family. It was dangerous to get attached to any of them, because they would eventually leave.
Marcella had spent the rest of her night, tossing and turning, wanting to text Cosimo and holding out because she knew that she was growing to like him most of all. More thanlike, if she were being honest with herself.
