Infused with my alpha command, Bryna wasn’t goinganywhereunless I told her so.
“We captured her. She had some scale dragons with her, courtesy of the reds. They tried to trap me.”
“Someone told her everything,” Florian deduced, shaking his head. “Mirko isn’t estranged from her after all.”
“It was the perfect cover for him to be running the slave markets through her. Not that we’ll be able to prove any of that, but it won’t matter. Bryna will stand trial for what’s she done. An elite will be prosecuted for their crimes against the grounded.Thatis what matters.”
That, and Anna being safe.
“I should have been there,” Florian growled as the three women appeared above us on the loft. “First this and then Dirk leading men to the border. That’smyjob, Casimir. I belong out there. Protecting us. Not here being a glorified babysitter. I’ve done enough.”
“Very well,” I said, “Go back to Kylma. Send Durion and Kolar back when you arrive. I want extra protection for the women.”
“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” Florian snapped, heading for the door.
I thought about reprimanding him for his attitude but decided not to push it. I understood his sentiments. He was stuck here, out of danger, while men,hismen, put their lives on the line. That was what made Florian so good at his job. He cared, and I was not going to punish him forbeing upset at being safe when they weren’t.
“Florian, wait,” I called as another idea came to me, and I followed him outside. “I have one more thing for you to do once you’re back at the citadel …”
“I still don’t know how I did it,” Anna said later that night as she lay pressed against me, lounging on a chair on the water’s edge. The soft lapping of the water against the shore under the breeze was peaceful.
The warmth of my mate in my arms was not. It made a dragon think thoughts. Dirty, dirty thoughts. Grinning, I funneled the desires of those thoughts through our bond.
“I’m serious, Caz!” she protested, wiggling her ass against my crotch anyway.
“Your dragon is strong. That’s how you broke the collar. It seems obvious to me.”
“So why haven’t I been able to fully shift? Or even do what I did in the basement?”
I leaned down to kiss her neck. She shuddered happily. “Have you tried?”
“Um. Well, no. But I didn’t try then. It just sort of happened,” she admitted as I reached around to play with her breasts through her thin shirt. “Stop that.”
“No, it feels good. You can’t hidethat from me.”
“Damn,” she said with quiet laughter. “I guess I can’t say I have a headache either.”
“Not if it’s a lie,” I confirmed. “Besides, I can tell you don’t want to turn me down.”
“I also want to have this conversation, but your hands and your cock pressing against my ass are a bit of a distraction,” she harrumphed playfully, getting up and moving to a clear patch of grass. “Okay. So. Uh, how exactly do I shift?”
I sat up as well, hiding a smile as her nipples poked through her shirt. Damn she looked perfect. I couldn’t imagine having ever been with anyone else. Not when Anna just … filled every desire I could conceive of.
“Caz. Up here. Focus.”
“You shift by calling to your dragon. Letting its power into the front of your mind and picturing it sort of, um, emerging from you.” I stood, frowning. This was new to me. I’d never had to guide someone on how to shift before. It just came so natural to me. Trying to tell someone how to do something so instinctual was like trying to teach them how to breathe.
You justdidit.
“Okay. Focus,” Anna said, putting her fingers to her temples and squeezing her eyes shut. “Dragon. Come forth. I want to become you. Come out and play.”
Nothing was happening.
Anna tried for another twenty minutes, but nothing I could tell her to do was helping her dragon emerge.
“Maybe I’m never actually going to change.”
“You will.”
