That and for so many other reasons,I said.It would take a lifetime to count them.
His head dropped but only for an instant. Nothing and no one would ever drag this fierce, arrogant dragon down for long.Will you tell her what I did?
What exactly do you refer to?I was playing with him, something I’d savored in the past.
You know.
Everyone knows.
I ask again,he growled.Will you tell her?
I should.
He drew himself up stiffly, his muscles bristling as if he would strike.I’m asking you not to.
Would he actually beg? For a moment, sympathy for this beast slipped past my guards. I shoved it away and shored up the forest in my mind. What he’d done could never be forgiven. He knew that.
But . . .
What will you give me if I let you tell her before me?I asked, meeting the flames swirling through his eyes.
He leaned close to my ear, though there was no need to do this since he still spoke in my mind. What he offeredstunned me.
Impossible,I said.
His low growl rumbled through his chest.Do not doubtme.
There was no harm in accepting his offer. If he could do this . . . Well, I’d survived this long without his intervention.
You have a deal,I said.I’ll give you a week.
Thank you.
With a nod, I left him, flitting back to our room in the inn where I climbed beneath the covers and gently drew Tempest into my arms.
I held her, my chin pinning the top of her head, her soft, slumbering breaths warming my skin.
Gathering my threads, I slashed them against the mist separating my mind from our past.
Tempest was gonewhen I woke, and I sent out my threads, finding her in the dining room with her friends.
With the light of dawn stretching its wings across the world, all I could think of was being with her.
I’d slept better than I could remember, and that gave me hope—for what, I wasn’t quite sure. As I rose and dressed, I kept thinking about how I’d touched her while she bathed. How I’d given her pleasure. My cock had been on fire while I teased her into an orgasm that rocked through me as completely as it did her. I couldn’t remember the last time I came in my pants, and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do it again.
After bathing and dressing in clean clothing, I’d gonedownstairs and was pulled into her charms once more, teasing my foot along her leg and between her thighs, barely holding in my grin when she responded so beautifully to my touch.
She’d nestled in my arms last night. She’d whispered my name in her sleep. And her touch . . . It had awakened a slumbering beast inside me who roared.
If only I could understand what he said.
Would I everfeelthe perfect love dangling just beyond my grasp?
With a shake of my head, I packed my things, noting she’d already done so, leaving nothing behind. Fear jolting through me, I left the room, taking the stairs quickly to the ground floor. There, I came to a halt, my tension lifting when I drank in her beauty and the animation on her face. With Drask bobbing on her shoulder, she sat at a table with Layla, my half-brother’s fated mate. Her sister. Did anyone else know that Lydel Court had two heirs? I hadn’t heard anything about another child.
From what Tempest shared about the confrontation at Bledmire, the king knew. He also knew she was my fated mate. From the time the mark appeared on my wrist, I kept it hidden. I didn’t want to hand the king a weapon.
“Are you going to stand there, or are you going to join everyone else and eat some breakfast?” Brodine asked, though in a pleasant enough manner. He tapped my back. “You’re blocking the way.”
