My eyes never left Mirko’s. He resisted, his teeth bared, and I just poured more power at him. Despite his repeated claims about being the firstborn but shoved out of the spotlight because of his mark, he wasn’t the ice tyrant.
I was, and I wasn’t going to put up with any challenge to my rule. I exerted my power, standing up taller and looming over Mirko until finally, at last, his dragon caved. It wasn’t much, but his head tilted to the side slightly, exposing his throat.
Submitting.
A collective groan came from the occupants of the Grand Hall as I let up on the alpha power.
Mirko’s eyes darted from me to Anna, and I growled as I slid in between them. He didn’t even get to look at her. She was mine.
“Careful, Casimir. If you aren’t, others will find out what she means to you.”
I froze, cold fury moving like ice in my veins. Was he threatening me with the fact that he’d deduced Anna was my mate?
“If you so much as touch a hair on her,” I hissed, “I will kill you. Blood or not. Am I clear?”
“Of course, Alpha,” Mirko said, the title of respect positively coated in sarcasm.
“Father?” a higher-pitched voice called from behind him. “What’s going on out here?”
“Nothing. It is of no matter,” Mirko said.
Andrik appeared at his father’s side, a spitting image of him. Thankfully, I had inherited much of my mother’s looks and did not look like either of them.
“Oh, hello, Casimir,” Andrik said. His eyes moved to where Anna stood just behind me, lighting up with surprise and amusement. “By the orb! You finally found yourself a palace whore that—”
Mirko and I both moved. Him to protect. Me to punish.
I got there first. My fist slammed into Andrik’s nose with beautiful satisfaction. My cousin hit the floor on his ass and fell back, his eyes unfocused as blood poured from his nose.
Mirko eyed the mess of his son’s face and sighed as Andrik stared up at him expectantly. “Don’t look at me. You had that coming.”
I shouldered my way past Mirko and gestured for Anna to follow me down the corridor. I had to get her out of there. Away from any other prying eyes.
Until my bite had sealed our bond, she was not considered to be my equal in the eyes of the law. I would kill anyone who came for her without a second thought, but only when the bond was complete between us would she be truly safe.
I would have to watch Mirko carefully. The last thing he would want was further securing of the throne down my family line.
All of which meant I was going to have to keep Anna out of sight until I could show her that we were truly mated. Something I was sure she would love.
“What the hell was that all about?” she asked now from my side.
“Family drama,” I grunted, making it clear I didn’t want to talk about it any further.
If she started asking questions, she wouldn’t stop until she knew the truth about everything.
Including what I had done.
Fifteen
Anna
Keeping mydistance from Caz was growing harder the longer I spent around him. My dragon was restless, eager to close the gap between us. I had assumed riding herd on her would grow easier, the longer she was awake and the more I learned what it was truly like to have an active dragon half.
Boy, was I wrong. Every time he entered the room, he brought that mix of woodsmoke and citrus with him. And every time, she went wild for it. More than once, I had stopped just shy of plastering myself to him like a wet towel. I wanted to drink it up, to dive in and never surface.
More than that, I wanted everyone I came in contact with to smell it on me. To smellhimon me.
Denying the increasing tension between us was impossible. We were connected. I still found it hard to believe we were mates, but my denial faded slightly every time I relived that moment in the dungeon corridor, our faces inches away from each other, the thundering in my chest asmy heart raced to match his. It was too much.
