“That bastard dared to point a gun at you?”Ranulf roared, his vision suddenly edged with red.“I’ll kill him!I’ll rip him apart until nothing of him exists except scattered body parts and blood-soaked snow?—”
“Ranulf!”Sephie cried, her expression one of horror at his descriptive words.
He swallowed, taking a few seconds to rein back his fury.“I’m sorry.That was uncalled for.”
“More than a bit,” she agreed as she pulled out of his arms and stepped away.“Did you mean it?”
It was impossible for a dragon shifter to lie to his fated mate.“Yes.”
She drew in a deep breath.“Then I repeat,whatare you, and what possible reason could this man Wallis have for hunting you and your brothers?”
CHAPTERFOUR
Sephie looked as if she was seconds away from turning and running away, Ranulf recognized in dismay.
From him.
For good reason, he acknowledged impatiently.
What he was saying, the fierce possessiveness of his reactions, would be completely alien to her.Frightening.
Whereas it seemed perfectly normal to Ranulf to want to kill any man who was ever alone in a bedroom with his mate.
Daring to point a gun at her had taken his fury to a whole other level.
So much so that Ranulf could feel his talons pressing against his skin, wanting to burst free so that he could annihilate Edgar Wallis in the exact manner he had just described so graphically.When Ranulf was finished with Wallis, there wouldn’t be a single recognizable part of him left for anyone to identify.
Ranulf deflated at the realization thatthatprobably would result in Sephie running away from him.Probably screaming as she did so.
“Are you and your brothers part of a criminal organization, but you steal gold and jewels rather than money?Ooh, or were the three of you involved in the recent heist of jewelry from the Louvre?”Her eyes glowed at the thought of it.
“No.”Ranulf burst that bubble.
“Then did you or your brothers steal something from Edgar Wallis?”Sephie pressed him, her stance and the lifting of her chin full of challenge.
Ranulf smiled inwardly, his dragon purring as they both recognized the strength of their mate’s character.Despite what he’d just said, Sephie was refusing to back down.As far as Ranulf was concerned, that made her a warrior in her own right.
“We believe his intention is to steal something from us,” Ranulf corrected.
“What?”She looked confused.“Was I right the first time, and you and your brothers are thieves, and you’re hiding your loot away in one of those hundreds of rooms you must have in your castle?”
Ranulf stilled.“You’ve been to Drake House?”
Color entered her cheeks, and her gaze no longer met his.“Yes.”
“And you saw it as a castle?”
She snorted.“What else would I see it as when that’s what it is?”
The fact that Sephie could see Drake Castle for exactly what it was only confirmed what Ranulf already knew: Sephie was his fated mate.
Mate, Ranulf’s dragon purred.Mine, he added proudly.
Ours, Ranulf corrected firmly.
Ours, his dragon agreed.
“We’re not thieves, and we didn’t steal anything from Wallis,” he answered her succinctly.“We are, however, very wealthy.”Their accumulated treasure was valued in the billions of pounds rather than millions.
