“What does that mean?”
“You look savage. There's always a vicious expression on your face. Your muscles constantly tighten as if you're on the verge of attacking anyone who gets too close. My first look of you confirmed all the rumors I heard. But now, I'm having second thoughts.”
My good mood vanished. “What rumors?”
“Ly, they're just rumors. Every king is talked about.”
“Yes, but what do they say aboutme, Captain?” I snapped his title.
Perfect!The Eye cried.Work this. Get that fear back in him.
Shut up!I hissed in my head.
“They say you're more dragon than man. That you have a short temper and riling it can be fatal. You kill without thought. You have no mercy. They say . . .” Aras grimaced, then started again. “They say you're a monster.”
I had heard a few of those rumors. Some of them made me grin. After what I'd gone through to become King, I felt it best to rule with a touch of fear. If you can't earn their respect, earn their fear. But hearing those things from Aras was different. They were poison, puffed through the air. I breathed them inand choked on them. Maybe because I knew they were true and he would find that truth repulsive. Or maybe it was because I knew I had to make Aras believe that he was not immune to my monstrosity.
“Ly?” Aras asked.
But I couldn't do it. Not when he stared at me like that, so full of trust and hope. Not with the mating bond so new and pulsing vibrantly between us. I could feel his anxiety and it cut at me. No, I couldn't be a monster with him. Not my Aras.
You must!the Eye shouted.
Later,I replied as I reached for my mate. Aloud, I said, “They're all true. All those terrible things they say.”
Aras frowned. “No, they're not.”
“I've become a monster to keep the crown,” I confessed. “I have killed without mercy. I have tortured men. I have—”
“Stop.” Aras put a leathery fingertip on my lips. “I don't care.”
“You don't?”
“Do you think I am a paradigm of honor? I am a sea captain.” He swept his hand toward the door. “The sea has her own laws.” He swallowed visibly, his furred throat working. “A captain must sometimes do terrible things for the good of his crew and cargo. That pirate we're hunting—the Sea King's mate. I tortured him. I even enjoyed it. I tasted his blood, and it excited me.”
I'd been softening toward Aras with every confession, but the last one had me twitching. “His blood excited you? In what way?”
Aras's jaw dropped. Then a laugh burst from him. “That's what you focus on?”
I blinked. Processed. Realized my ridiculousness. Then I confessed, “I've done far worse than you. None of what you've just said bothers me. Just the fact that you tasted another man's blood.”
Aras's grin widened. “I think I like you jealous.”
I growled and leaned my face into his. “Be careful, Captain. Just because I kiss you and hold you tenderly, it doesn't make you exempt from my ferocity.”
Instead of being cowed, Aras licked his lips and said, “I like that too.”
I leaned back in shock, taking in his parted lips and dilated pupils. He was aroused. I could smell it as well. Sense it. My mate enjoyed blood play. I knew that much, but now I suspected that he enjoyed other vicious things. How interesting.
“So, you like it rough?” I asked.
His breath caught. “Sometimes.”
I grabbed my mate by the throat and shoved him against the door again. But this time, it wouldn't end in laughter. “You're always the aggressor, aren't you? You're the one who claws and bites.” I snapped my teeth at him. “Not in my bed, Aras. I do the biting.” I bit his lower lip hard enough to sting, but not draw blood.
Aras shuddered, his eyelids fluttering with it, and arched into me. His cock rose between us, already growing slick with his arousal.
“You do like that,” I whispered in delight. “You have some unfulfilled desires. That's why you want me. You've always had to play the alpha, and alphas take control. We set the tone for sex. But you long for someone to dominate you. You want someone to make you bleed. To lick your wounds for once.”
