Something told me she wouldn’t be in any of those. And so, detecting the barely audible sound of voices, I followed them until I rounded the corner and saw the shifter forcing someone to do something. I’d made to go, not wanting to intrude. After all, my mate would be in a cage, and that was all my dragon and I cared about. Finding our mate and getting her out of there.
But as I’d turned to continue my hunt, the man had shifted, and I’d seen who he had pinned up against the wall.
It was her. Our mate.
I barely held on to control over the monster going berserk inside me. It was only for thesake of our mate that I didn’t charge down the hallway and rip the man in half. Not that I wasn’t going to.
But I had to be more circumspect about it. The distance was great enough that if I made one noise too much, he would have plenty of time to snatch her up as a hostage, or worse, dispose of her. The very safety of my mate depended on menotmaking a lot of noise as I snuck up on him.
The hunter hissed something at her, and I watched in mounting fury as she began to lift her shirt for him, exposing her body to someoneotherthan me.
Alpha power slipped out, the stone walls covering themselves in a coat of frost as the temperature around me dropped precipitously. How dare he even look at her! That filth laying his eyes onourmate was unacceptable. There was only one acceptable outcome.
Stalking forward, silent as the last whisper of night, I made not a single sound. Holding my breath was child’s play. The only thing that would have given me away was my heartbeat, ticking up at the prospect of ending the life of one who would treat my mate so poorly.
Only when I was in striking range did my guard slip. A growl penetrated the dimly lit corridor, followed behind it with a blast of icy cold air courtesy of my alpha power seeking out the one who would seek to defile the most perfectwoman out there. My woman.
“She. Is. Mine.”The proclamation hissed from between my lips as I surged forward, wrapping my hands around his temples before he could turn fully.
With a silent roar, I lifted and twisted, letting loose every bit of my towering rage. There was a tremendous crack, and the hunter went still, his protests sputtering away into one final, rattling death sigh.
I tossed his corpse to the side and stepped up to my mate to tug her shirt back down into place. Now was not the time for my dragon to get ideas, despite the delicious swirl of her breasts that I had caught glimpses of. I already knew they would be perfect, though I longed to know how they would feel in my hands, to run my tongue over the pebbled tips of her nipples until she moaned.
Without hesitation, I swore to myself I would show her that it wouldn’t always be like it had been with the hunter. That she could experience pleasure too, that I would only have her if she was willing and wanted me. I wouldneverforce myself on her. But that was for later.
For the moment, I had to focus on getting her out of there, and the more of her skin my greedy eyes could drink in, the harder that was going to be.
But my help wasn’t wanted.
My dragon cried out in shocked agony as she backed away from me. From us. Pulling her shirt down, she crossed her arms over her chest, curling in slightly to the side.
“It’s me,” I said.
“Great. So?” She eyed me suspiciously.
“What?”
“I don’t know who the fuck you are,” she pointed out. “Saying ‘it’s me’ provides exactly zero clarity. I’ve already had one man try to take advantage of me tonight. Now you come in here, smelling all delicious like you do, acting all hot and protective, and then you just expect me to, what, drop to my knees and suck you off as a thank you?”
My jaw dropped. She liked the way I smelled? Then the second half of her sentence hit me.
“What are you talking about? I saved you from that asshole. Now I’m going to take you away from here. I’m going to keep yousafe.” The last word was full of growled promise. “I would not, and willneverpush myself on you. Ever.”
“How do you expect me to believe that?”
“Because I said it? Because I’m your mate? Because I’ve given you no reason to doubt me?”
She shook her head, hair flying to the side and eyes a near otherworldly purple as her dragon tried to push through.
I longed to see it, though it would neverhappen. I ached, wishing I could somehow grant her the ability to shift, to experience what it was like to become one with our other half. As a mate, I should be able to provide her everything, but in this, I knew I would only fail if I tried. It just wasn’t meant to be.
That didn’t mean I could do nothing for her. I knew she could smell me, could feel my presence, just a few feet away. I wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in my arms, to caress her, kiss the top of her head. Make her feel safe and protected. No more danger. But she didn’t want that.
So what was the problem? Why was she pushing me away?
“You gave me two reasons,” she said, scrunching up her face in distaste. “First, you rejected me in the middle of the market.”
“I didn’t reject you,” I said, though it even sounded feeble to my own ears. “I was shocked, and I don’t know if you noticed, but I was trying to keep a low profile.”
