“Guessshe’ll keep me,” he grumped, shaking his head. “Sheguesses.”
“If you keep whining like that, you aren’t going to sway her in your favor,” Dirk said, interrupting our little back and forth.
“I amnotwhining,” Caz ground out, glaring at the icy-blue dragon form of his brother looming nearby.
Dirk’s yellow dragon eyes blinked slowly, butthat was all the reaction he gave to the threat.
“Kiss me again, mate,” I ordered, wanting his attention back on me.
Lowering his mouth to mine, Caz turned his back to Dirk, blocking me from view as he stole the breath from my lungs with a heated kiss, blasting his physical desires into my forebrain as he did.
The big ice dragon huffed in irritation and stomped away.
“Brothers,” Caz muttered between kisses.
“You really need to go,” I said. “I need to get a move on.”
“You need more clothing,” Caz growled protectively, his eyes lighting with his dragon as he eyed the rags covering me.
“Thisismore clothing. We had to make sure the mate marks and bites are all covered up. Do you know how many clippys out here have shirts that aren’t ripped and torn? Damn few.”
“Grounded,” Caz said with heavy emphasis.
I shook my head. “No. Not right now. Not while I’m out here. I have to play the part properly, Caz.”
He just growled.
“That includes not smelling like the strongest dragon in the kingdom, sir. So get moving. I need to go get dirty if we have a hope of this working.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”Caz stood his ground.
“You must, love,” I said, urging him on mentally. “The more you delay, the more likely someone will spot us together. Please.Go. I’ll be fine, I’ve lived like this for years.”
I clamped down on any thoughts about how I’d never done italone. If Caz could smell or sense my fear right now, I’d never be rid of him.
“Go,” I repeated, stepping back from him and crossing my arms. “Go, so you can come back to me.”
“That is such backward logic,” he pointed out, his skin lightening to turn almost bluish. His dragon was pushing him hard.
“Caz. No more excuses.Go,” I ordered, managing to summon forth a bit of command to inject into the word.
“Be safe,” he rumbled, taking a half-step toward me.
I frowned. “The point of all this is quite the opposite of being safe.”
“I need you to be safe,” he said, dropping his voice. “I need you to be okay. I love you. I can’t replace you. Ever. I need you to know that.”
“I do,” I whispered. “So make sure you come and get me when you find the market. Nowgo.”
“Iwillcome for you. Call for us, and we will hear you,” he said, his voice deepening as his dragon burst forth at last, shredding his clothingand spreading its wings wide. “I will show up.”
Then he was gone, lifting into the air and racing off without looking back. I could sense the pain in every beat of his wings. He had to do it that way, or he would never leave me.
Delicious ribbons of satisfaction curled across my stomach, much like his mate marks. I was his, and I reveled in just how obsessed with me he had become. For the first time in my life, I was valued to someone because of who I was. Not as a sale.
That thought brought me back to the present, and to my mission. Head out into the wilds. Don’t die. Get caught by hunters. Once they brought me to a market, I could call out to Caz, so he would know where it was.
Then we could capture his elite, find Milly, and be together forever.
