Good. Now he’d get his damn answers.
She tossed her pack aside. “You won’t even let me touch you, refused to make love to me when I all but offered myself! And this—” She snatched the obsidian dagger from the bedbench and flung it at him.
He caught his weapon midair. “What about it?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t learn the truth about the dagger?” she yelled. “Kira saw it and nearly fainted with excitement—thought I’d joined the bloody club. Except, I had no idea what she was talking about until she explained.”
Stars!He shut his eyes, wishing he knew exactly what had upset her and set her off.
She laughed, the sound brittle and sharp, scraping down his spine. “Oh, don’t worry, your brooding-loner dragon image remains untarnished. I didn’t say a word to Kira.”
Hell,he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You knew…” her voice quivered, but she forced it steady. “And you chose to let me walk blindly.”
He dropped his hand. “Godsdammit, Ash, just explain!”
“I told you the dagger glowed when I touched it.” She swallowed hard. “You said it was just the lamplight. You didn’t tell me it was your mate’s dagger—that it would only respond to the one destined foryou!”
The words slammed into him like a sledgehammer in the chest, his entire world tilting on its axis.
Not just ashifter’smate.
Adestinedmate.
He’d heard Nik mention it when he met Shadow, but he, as usual, hadn’t paid attention. With his brokenness, he never wanted one. Besides, he was a dragon shifter—too damn dangerous to consider a human as a mate.
Dread coiled tight in his gut, and he stared at her. She stayed silent, fiddling with the pack’s straps.
What the fuck had the Fates done?
While he could suffer the dragon’s mating fever alone, he would never put her at risk if he couldn’t find a safe way to give her his full venom.
And now Fate had marked her for him as his destiny, not something he could simply walk away from. Because deep down, he felt it too. And those fucking useless gods knew it.
She looked at him, and her anguished expression shuttered. The realization hit him then that he could lose her—really lose her if he didn’t fix this.
“Look, I get it. Butdestined mates? Really?” A humorless laugh escaped her, and she picked up her pack. “It’s all nonsense, even if your dagger says otherwise. I mean, do we really want some clueless Fate to choose whoweshould end up with? Besides, love is for dreamers, and I’ve had that blinder torn off rather brutally. So…” She headed for the door. “I’m going to ask Kira for another room.”
“Don’t you dare take another step. I’m not done.” Red-hot rage flooded him. He dragged in a harsh breath. “You know nothing of what you speak?—”
“Don’t I?” She spun back, her features set, her stare icy. “You’re immortal, royal, and I’m human, one suddenly thrust into your life.Youdidn’t even want to claim-mark me! So, forgive me if I doubt your sudden pretense that all this between us is more.”
“It’s because I didn’t trust myself with you, don’t you get it?” He tossed the dagger on the bed. “This pull between us?—”
“It’s just lust.”
“By the dark gods, Ash, stop and listen,” he growled, trying to keep his frustration bolted. “First, I didn’t know the obsidian was my mate’s dagger. I was crazed out of my mind when I was spat out onto Earth. Yes, I swore my fealty to Gaia. I know that because of this here?—”
He tore off his sleeve, revealing the tattooed sword and a row of runes on his skin. “This ink. But it took decades before I could even function enough to become a Guardian. My mind had cracked because I was in that hellhole longer than the others. It fucked me up.”
Her eyes flickered from his biceps to his face, the first sign she was listening.
“Second, I want you more than my next breath,” he whispered, his gaze tracing her taut features and the wounded eyes she didn’t try to hide anymore. “But I’m terrified. I cannot bear the thought of losing you.” He brushed her collar aside, exposing the faint mark on her neck. “When I claim-marked you, a little of my venom seeped into you—you felt the heat like a fever—I know because we both ended up together in that lake.”
Her cheeks flushed a little, but she remained silent.
“Ashaya…” He gently cupped her face. “A true claiming requires full venom?—”
