“I don’t understand that.” Finally, she grasped his wrists, her brow furrowing. “You’ve lived on Earth for millennia. How did the women survive you? Did they all need this venom?”
“There were no others,” he said then. “Not since Lemuria, and Tartarus stripped everything else away. Then I saw you, and something inside me awakened. Even my dragon grew restless when you weren’t near. Andhedespised everyone I was with in the past.”
She rubbed her face and paced to the bench at the foot of the bed.
“How could you believe otherwise?” he asked, following her. “I don’t give a damn about titles. My life is that of a Guardian—a life I want you in always.”
She wheeled back, scowling. “And yet you told me to choose one ofthemto claim-mark me.”
Nope, she still hadn’t forgiven him for that.
“Like I said, fucked in the head. Still am,” he said wryly. “When it comes to you, it was damn hard to hope you’d feel even a fraction of what I do.”
“How could you possibly doubt it was you I wanted?” she asked, staring at him like he had lost a few screws—hell, maybe he had.
“Koal,” he growled, still seething at the whelp’s obsession with her. “You liked him more—chose him.”
She blinked, then bit her lower lip, hiding her smile. Gods, he wanted to steal that smile right off her, suck it into him, so it lit up all the dark places within.
“Could it be because he didn’t eat his food while it was still moving?” she teased. “Or, rip off a chunk and toss it to me?”
This female. She not only held him in a chokehold with her might but also held him accountable for every blunder, and he reveled in it. “I guess I was terrified of the way you made me feel, so I did shit to push you away.”
“It worked.” Her deep sigh broke free. “Koal wasn’t important, never was, you know that.”
“Aye. But knowing made little difference, because I still wanted to kill him. We dragons are primal creatures, Ash. There is no logic when another male pays attention to their mate.”
“I’m learning.” She pressed her temples like she had a headache. Hell, his own head hurt, too, as if the pressure within was moments from cracking open his skull.
“So, this venom you mentioned.” Her brow furrowed into a tiny V. “How serious is it—for me?”
“Very. I was going to tell you back at Talonhold House, but things escalated. To be honest, I didn’t want to scare you away.”
“Yeah?” She arched an eyebrow, dropping the pack on the bench. “I’ve seen you at your worst, tearing into that wildcat. How much scarier can it get?”
A smile started, then faded. “You’re human, Ash. My dragon seed isn’t a gentle thing. It’s molten heat, built to forge bloodlines. Without the venom preparing your body first, it would burn you inside out.”
“Bloody biology,” she muttered. “Only I would want a walking furnace.”
This female.He drew her closer. With a deep sigh, she settled against him, and the churning turmoil within him eased a little.
Groaning, he trailed his nose along her jaw, inhaling her scent of summer rain. Her warmth seeped into him, and the feel of her body tucked against his…Gods.His mating fever raged, and desire swamped him?—
A knock rattled the door, jolting him from the edge of losing control, and Ash hastily stepped back.
“It can’t be for me.” She laughed, the sound low and husky, caressing his senses.
“It’s Nik,” he rasped. He didn’t want to leave, but desperately needed space to get back some control, and to not breathe in her intoxicating scent like the starving beast he’d become. “Give me a minute.”
“I need a shower anyway.” Ash flopped onto the bench, exhaustion softening the sharp edges of her expression, rubbing her hands, still coated with the caldera’s black dust, on her pants.
And he just wanted to lick her all over?—
Fuck.He shuffled off, mentally opening and shutting the door behind him.
Hell, it was both a reprieve and a curse. Reprieve, because it gave him space to get his head together. Curse, because her scent made him want to claim her anyway.
And it would mean her death.
