And gods help him…she lookededible.He wanted his mouth all over her?—
The temperature in the room plunged, the wind rattling the shutters. Through their bond, her anger surged, hot enough to sear.
Her gaze locked on Rhaedra’s hand still resting on his arm.
Fuck!
Ash’s fingertips dug into the banister as Race took a step toward her, dislodging the woman.
Stop,she bit out through their mind-link, stopping him dead.
Every step down had cost her, but Race’s strange behavior and the waves of raging heat flooding their bond had driven her from her bed. Now, watching the scaled viper’s sultry gaze fixed on him, fury burned away the last of her exhaustion.
It took everything in her not to tear into Race for hiding what was wrong from her, and not let the power crackling under her skin slip free and cauterize that she-dragon’s superior little smile.
Instead, cool as ice—English composure sliding neatly into place—she ignored Race entirely. His eyes burned dark with concern…and something wilder. Their bond thrummed with barely leashed violence.
Ash,he rasped.
She didn’t respond.
“Lass,” Attor said then, worry threading his voice. “You should be resting.”
“Should I?” She forced a lighter tone, though her pulse hammered like war drums. “Seems I’m missing all the excitement.”
Rhaedra’s perfect lips curved. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“No?” Ash took another step down, and the room tilted—maybe that was her—but she didn’t slow. “Discussing our leader’s, er, personal matters in the open and during a mission seems like everyone’s concern.”
“The males of our kind have needs,” the she-dragon said, her low voice laced with disdain. “Needs a human cannot begin to understand?—”
“Enough,” Race snapped, a dangerous heat radiating off him, thrusting his fingers through his hair, dislodging his hair tie.
But Ash turned that ire back on him with an even colder stare.
What aren’t you telling me?she mind-linked with him, her tone like frost.That a stranger would offer you help for something I—your mate—know nothing about?
She gripped the newel post as another wave of heat swept through her.
He stared at her for a long second.
“Ash ismymate,” his cold voice cut through the tension like a blade. “She accepted my venom and is marked and claimed as mine.”
Rhaedra went utterly still, then immediately lowered her head in submission. “But, sire,youcannot. You can only mate with a noble-born, as the god Pyr’xian decreed.”
“Pyr’xian is no more. The decree is mine.” Race’s voice cracked like thunder. “Ash is my heart-mate—mydestinedone. My silence was to protect her.”
Her gaze remained downcast. “Sire. I didn’t realize?—”
“No one can know,” Race continued, his voice deadly calm. “If any harm comes to her because of this knowledge…” He let the threat hang, sharp as a blade.
Lemuria will fall.
“You have my oath,” Rhaedra said at once. “On my dragon’s blood.”
Attor’s weathered face showed no surprise. “As you’ve always had mine,” he said quietly. “By the way, I left some supplies in the back of your cave. Thought you might need them.”
Race’s eyes snapped to his, but Attor just gave a slight nod before settling into the chair at the table and rolling up the maps.
