“And they don’t want you?” I asked, forging ahead, somehow ignoring the insane screeches of my dragon to let him show me what he would do if Ididwant him.
“They want this,” he said, gesturing around at him. “The power. The everything.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
The blissful happiness faded into stiffness. “Never mind. You don’t get it.”
“Don’t get it? You’re the ice tyrant, you …” I stopped, surprised by the sour look on his face. “What?”
“I don’t like it when you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say it like that,” he grunted, shifting uncomfortably. “That’s my title. Not my name. I don’t ever want to be that person. Not to you. Never to you. With you, I only ever want to be Caz.”
My eyebrows went up. Perhaps I had misjudged him. He didn’tlikebeing called the ice tyrant. Not by me, at least.
“That could be hard,” I said slowly, trying to process this new development. “Youarethe Ice Tyrant. Supreme leader of all ice dragons. You went toe to toe with the Red King. You might very well be the strongest true dragon across Hollow Earth. You’re a legend, Caz. I can’t just forget all that.”
He pulled away from my grasp. “I’m more than that,” he said and then headed for the door. “I should go see if any new leads on your friends have, uh, come up.”
It was a crap excuse and we both knew it.
Sixteen
Casimir
“Caz.”
I shuddered to a halt. My fingers were inches from the doorknob. One push of willpower, and I could be gone, leaving it all behind.
Except leaving my mate was never an option. If she called me, I answered. Every moment I could spend near her was perfection on a level impossible to describe. Like slotting the last piece of the puzzle into place. Except it wasn’t a puzzle. It was my entire being. That’s what it was like beingnearher.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be free to kiss her. Or claim her.
My fangs tried to slide down on their own, but I held on with steely restraint. Now was not the time for that. Her voice was not threaded with need, with the sweetness of lust I could smell permeating the room. Instead, it was hurt—a hurt I caused by being rude to her. Trying to leave. Was I an idiot? Why would I do that to her, of all people? Anna was too nice.
But she wasn’t the only one hurting. Even as her footsteps slowly made their way across theroom toward my back, I tried to shove away the aching her words had wrought deep inside me, in a place I tried not to go.
She thought of me as the ice tyrant. That was who I was to her. Ice tyrant first. Caz last.
I hated that. Hated hearing the words come from her voice. I never liked the title. Ever. No matter how many beatings I endured, being told that to be the ice tyrant meant being the meanest, strongest, most cruel dragon of them all. I should be used to it by now, but I wasn’t.
To hear her say it hurt more than any of the lashings my father doled out. Her words struck deeper than the scale-tipped whip he preferred to use. Even now the marks on my back itched with reminder.
Her hand touched my shoulder, and I trembled harder than any pain his “lessons” had inflicted.
“Look at me.” Anna’s voice was a whisper I could never ignore. Slowly, I faced her. Gazed into those incredible violet eyes, marveling at their beauty, even as I noted the regret pooling in the corners.
She was right there. The woman I had dreamed of night after night. The one I knew I never deserved. Somehow, guided by the fates, I had found her after all.
If I could only show her I wasn’t the person she thought I was.
But all I knew was action. I could showher without words. She was right there. In the middle of the room. It would be so easy to slice the clothes from her body with my claws until they dropped to the floor. I clenched my jaw, wondering what it would be like, that first, glorious sight of her naked body, of breasts I knew would be perfect. My mouth salivated at the thought of latching on, sucking and teasing them until she moaned, arching her back up into me and presenting. She would announce her pleasure for my dragon and me.
I wanted to explore every last inch of her body. Kissing it. Caressing it. Tasting it until she trembled and exploded with one final touch, my name on her lips. I nearly came in my pants like a teenager at the idea of her screaming “Caz!” while she orgasmed for me.
One wrong breeze and I was done for.
