“How can you promise?”
Good question. If I made an ultimatum to Malin, he would only argue. Maybe even go against me just because he could. He wanted to show me he didn’t ever agree with me. Or love me. Not anymore.
“I don’t know.” I cleared my throat, lightly scraping my fork back and forth across my plate. “I don’t know,” I repeated.
My mind moved fast when I was up against a wall. In business, that was good. For me it meant success. Great success. In my personal life, not so much.
I tapped my fork once more in a solid clink and said in a measured tone, “Maybe I’ll show him the paperwork. That I signed and paid for you in full. That it was never declared to Rohan you would go anywhere else. Maybe…. Maybe if I tell him I’ve claimed you, that will work. Malin can’t go against that. It’s law. Devout alpha law.”
Kirion dropped his utensils and stopped chewing.
I held up my hand. “I’ll say those words. That’s all. I never meant for you—” My voice betrayed me. I stayed silent as Elias walked in with our drink refills. When he left, I found part of my voice again, rough, gravelly.
“Kirion. Just know. I promise you’ll be safe no matter what.”
9
Kirion
When he said those words,claim me, my heart skipped a few beats. All sorts of things started happening in my body that I couldn’t control. Shock. Disbelief. And relief I would no longer have to become Malin’s mate. My muscles felt like water, then tensed hard as rocks. Then sagged with a weight as if those rocks had turned to lead.
Now Tane would claim me. But only in words. If I’d felt even a tinge of excitement, it was gone in seconds. But I couldn’t help but wonder for a fleeting moment what that would be like. Being claimed by Tane. Being more than a dinner companion, or ward, but his omega. His!
But he hadn’t bought me for that. He had already said he wasn’t interested in a mate despite being alone for years.
He spoke to me again, but my thoughts were too loud. I didn’t hear him. I shook my head once, blinking down at my plate.
If Tane legally claimed me, it meant I would never have a mate for the rest of my life. I would be alone. Childless. When I was deemed by him to be a proper age, Rohan constantly reminded me he’d sell me to the dragons. I had spent many years telling myself I didn’t want a dragon mate. I knew I would end up with one, but I didn’t have to want it, did I?
I never thought about alternatives. I wouldn’t allow my mind to go there.
Now I thought about being alone. No partners or lovers. No one to share my heats.
It didn’t seem fair. Tane might think he hadn’t put me in a cage, that he was humane, but this was definitely a cage. He said I had freedoms. How far did that go? I suspected it didn’t mean what that word actually stood for.
Tane spoke again. I raised my head.
“Dragons are predators,” he said. “It’s about keeping you safe. You won’t have to be afraid.”
“Wolves are predators, too.” My voice cracked.
He scratched the side of his head. “Uh, yes. That’s true. But you’re not in that country anymore.”
What I had meant to say had not formed into the proper words. I was used to predators. I was used to being viewed as a prize, like food. I didn’t like Malin but I also wasn’t afraid of him hurting or raping me. Except for his rudeness. That could hurt my feelings. If I cared. Which I didn’t.
“You don’t have to claim me. I’m not actually afraid for my life with Malin,” I said.
“It would be just legal paperwork.” Tane spoke with a sure voice.
“But it would tie you down. You wouldn’t be free to actually…um…meet someone on your own.”
Tane took a bite of his steak and slowly chewed. He seemed like he was on automatic pilot and didn’t even taste it.
“That’s my decision.”
“Decision?”
“Not to meet prospective… others.”
