The casual action only served to lift his shirt tighter. I got a hint of his rock-hard stomach as the hem rose up over his belt.
Tanned skin and a chiseled V-cut disappeared back below the leather, sadly hidden from sight.
“You’re right that I don’t know your past,” he continued, either ignoring or not realizing I closed my mouth to stop myself from drooling. “And I know you’re hiding something.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand to stop me.
“My point was simply that I can see it. Not that you have to tell me everything right now. Some stories take time, and comfort, before they can be told.”
Something dark flickered in his eyes.
Now what wasthatabout? Caz had some things in his past he was uncomfortable with as well, it seemed. Would he tell me if I pushed?
Did I have the right to push, to make him share with me? No. As he’d said, some things took comfort to be able to tell. And if he was going to respect me, I owed him the same.
What sort of things had to happen for the ice tyrant himself to be angry? His entire life had been served to him on a platter. Son of the previous tyrant, he would have wanted for nothing his entire life. It couldn’t bethatbad. Not compared to a life on the run as a clippy, trying to survive in the wilds.
“Yet, despite not knowing what that hurt is, I know I want to fix it. I know it right here,” Caz growled, touching his chest. “I want to make you feel better. In any way I can. Whatever it takes. I’ll buy you whatever you need. Treat you to the nicest of meals, make sure your friends are safe forever. Rub your feet for hours on end. Make you scream my name with pleasure. Has someone wronged you? Give me their names. I’ll kill them all. Do you see? I don’tcarewhat I have to do, Anna. All I know is Iwantto do it—to you and for you. And doing so would make me happier than I have ever been in my entire life. Because of you.”
“I … don’t know how to respond to that.”
“I will help you heal. I will show you a differentlife. However I can, however I must, with all the resources at my disposal,” he said, his eyes glowing silver-green as his dragon rose to the surface, lending added emphasis to words that didn’t need it. “Which are many.”
“Um.” I shivered. Damn, he was intense. In a good way, I thought. But resisting him was going to be the hardest thing I ever did because he was convincing. I believed every word he was saying.
The only thing letting me hold on was knowing that he wasn’t telling meeveryword. He was holding something back. Somehow.
“Tell me? What can I do?” He was almost pleading now.
“My friends.” I flexed against another tremor so I didn’t shake or my legs wobble. If he grabbed me now, held me tightly, I wouldn’t be able to stop, wouldn’t be able to say no.
I would surrender to him. Even now the temptation was there, nearly impossible to ignore.
“Just my friends,” I said, yanking back on the cord and calling an emergency stop. “That’s what I need.”
Needed desperately. No way could I do this, no way could I fight this on my own. I needed Milly’s strength and Ella’s cold, hard logic. They would help me see what I was missing, the reason Caz felt he needed to pretend to be my mate. It was there, somewhere. I just couldn’t see it on myown.
“Of course. When you’re awake and have eaten.” He said the last with enough force to make it clear that he wasn’t going to entertain any arguments. “Then we can go see them.”
“Just like that?” It felt too easy.
Caz’s face opened in surprise and then hardened quickly into a cold glare. “Yes. Why would it not be? You asked me to get your friends. I told you I would. Did you think I lied?”
I sucked in a breath. Offending the leader of all ice dragons was not high on the list of ways to ensure survivability. I had to keep that in mind. He might be “Caz” to me, but to everyone else, he was the ruler of everything.
What I should have done was look away first in compliance to someone that alpha. Duck my head and find something extremely interesting on the marble tiles of his bathroom floor. Anything that showed submissiveness.
I chose none of those options, my suddenly awake dragon taking great offense to his attitude and overwhelming my restraint.
“Don’t get angry at me, tyrant-boy,” I snarled instead, the room taking on a silvery hue. My eyes had to be glowing as I stepped forward, pushing him back out of the bathroom door.
“I’m not used to your kind doing anything positive for me. I’ve spent a lifetime running from you because if I didn’t, I’d end up someone’sdomestic slave or, worse, in a whorehouse, passed around by every true-dragon freak with enough alpha power to demand a share of me. So, yes, I thought you may have lied to me because nobody in my life haseverdone anything that kind for me just because they said they would. Now get out so I can get ready and then take me to see my friends. And try not to be upset that living in your kingdom under your rule has left me atinybit wary about trusting any elite, let alone the ice tyrant himself.”
Then I slammed the door in his face.
Thirteen
Anna
