She doesn’t want that. We have to respect her wishes.
My dragon snarled wordlessly with anger, demanding to be let out, to be the one in charge. It would show us how toproperlymate.
You’ve got just as much experience in this as me, buddy. Which is to say, fucking none at all. So cool it.
Finding a way to stay sane was becoming harder and harder. Made all the worse by the fact my mate didn’t want me.Yet, she had hinted, mentioning her friends first several times, but that wasn’t entirely true. I could sense the deeper discomfort the idea brought to her.
Because of me. Of who I was. Though I longed for her to think of me as Caz and nothing more, that was impossible. Her entire life, I had been this mythical person, ruler, Ice Tyrant of all the Ice Kingdom.
How was she supposed to decouple me from that image in only a matter of days? For thatmatter, how was I so easily able to look past who she was,whatshe was? Not because I cared as a person but because of what it meant, of the struggles it would bring our way when others found out.
To me, she was everything I needed. Grounded, or weak-powered, elite, it mattered not to me. My mate was my mate, and she was all the perfect I could ever want, ever ask for. I would do anything for her.
But I should probably spend more time planning for the future. When word got out about Anna, and her lack of power, there would be … trouble. I needed to be ready.
A sense of resolve strengthening me, giving me a fresh purpose, I clocked the shower over to boiling hot. The scalding water—anathema to an ice dragon—immediately killed the resurging tingle in my cock. I had something else to focus on, something that involved Anna, and not pining away in solitude over her but real, tangible action.
I would need Dirk and Florian. Together, we could formulate a plan, come up with all the various scenarios that would arise as word of Anna’s presence began to leak. And it would leak. Mirko would see to that. I was certain.
But I would be ready. I exited the shower, staring at myself in the mirror. Anna needed me to protect her. To keep her safe until she couldcome to terms with what we were to each other. Then, I could bathe in her scent, and explore …
My nose twitched.
Just thinking about Anna brought that vanilla and cinnamon combination to me, intoxicating in its intertwining flavors. That mix made her so irresistible and staying apart from her so painful. I just wanted tolivein it.
I sniffed again. Her scent was potent, mixed with a slight sweetness of arousal. I knew because I scented it on her every time we were close. Her willpower was much stronger than mine because she wouldn’t even acknowledge it or let it make her weak.
And people said the grounded weren’t strong …
But why could I smell it now? This was no fantasy, no imagination. Anna had beenhere. In my bathroom. I spun to the shower. Had she walked in on me? I’d left the door open, figuring to be done well before she got back from her walkabout with Dirk.
Had she come back early? Found me in the shower? A smile curled my lips up. She was turned on by the sight. Of me. Had she heard me moaning her name? Biting my lip with intrigue at the idea, I stole from the bathroom toward the door to my personal bedroom. Perhaps she was in there. I would not intrude. I had sworn an oath, but if any sound could be heard throughthe door, that wasn’t my fault.
Halfway down the corridor a wave of cold washed over me, heavy in its blanketing touch. I frowned. Why would I, an ice dragon,theice dragon, feel cold like that?
A wave of pressure slammed into me afterward, spiking my heartrate. It wasn’t cold I was feeling. It was fear.
The marks on my chest began to burn.
And it wasn’t my fear.
I didn’t hesitate. I took off, following her scent as my dragon pushed forth, the world glowing with added silvery brightness at the corners of my vision. The trail was fresh and easy to follow.
The door to my personal wing shattered as I went through it, not bothering to slow down. I wasn’t going to take one second longer than necessary to get to Anna. Something bad was happening to her, and she needed me. Now.
I burst into the terrarium with a roar that shook the plants and rattled the glass in the windows. Wildlife scattered with shrieks as my dragon pushed forward, scales coating parts of my arms and body.
Barreling through the plant life, I found her cornered between two giant trees, swinging a broken branch wildly with both hands to keep her attacker at bay.
Howling my fury to the orb above, I launched myself at the one who dared threatenmymate. Iwas the ice tyrant, and they would feel my wrath. No place would be safe for them. No corner far enough to hide. Their flesh wasmineto rend from their body, and I would watch as their entrails flopped on the ground, and the life fled from their weak, quivering body.
“Mine!”
My dragon echoed the uncontrolled hatred with terrifying unity. We were one, with one purpose. One mission.
Protect.
The attacker tried to dodge, but he was too slow. Too weak. I hit him hard in the back, snapping him forward with near spine-shattering force. He flew forward, slamming off a tree and hitting the ground.
