“Angel, careful now,” Kahl cajoles, drawing my attention to the left. “Not a lot of room in here.”
I take a step forward, my growl turning into a purr. And still, none of the sounds are coming fromme, no longer in control of my body. All of this power at my disposal and still, none of it is truly mine, my control stripped away and leaving me at the mercy of just one more dragon.
Kahl doesn’t even hesitate, reaching up to smooth a hand over my jawline and down my neck, unperturbed by the carnage on my maw. “There’re my girls.”
His phrasing makes my anxiety shrivel up as instantly as it spiked, feeling far better knowing he understands what’s happening, that it isn’t me and he needs to be careful. Because even though I’d never hurt him, my parasitic, alter ego is an unknown entity with an agenda I’m not sure aligns with any of our plans.
She buries her snout into his neck, bumping his shoulder with a low whine. After seeing the damage these teeth were able to do on Ben though, the thought of tearing into my mates’ shoulders leaves me queasy.
You might hit an artery or something! You think Ben would actually keep them from bleeding out after we nearly tore his arm off?
She doesn’t answer me, and for as much as I’ve missed being alone in my head, the absence of her familiar voice sends a pang of longing I’m unprepared for. I’m not sure when it exactly happened, but I started relying on her presence as much as the guys’.
Are you seriously going to give me the cold shoulder in my own fucking body?
More crickets, and my unease only grows. There should be no reason why I can’t reach her when we inhabit the same body. Sure, she’s in the driver’s seat now, but I could still hear her when she was relegated to the dark outskirts.
“And what have you done with it?”she rumbles and I mentally blanch.“You’re weak, ruled by fear. You let our mates make all of the hard choices, hiding in the shadows and relying on them to protect us.”
Unaware of our inner conference, Kahl carries on. “Love, there’s barely enough room in here for you, let alone any more of us,” he placates, turning down her offer to bite him in a bid to elicit a shift like we once discussed.
All of her vehemence drains away in an instant and I feel her hurt as if it were my own, realize she’s completely taking it as a rejection far worse than our misunderstanding with Kaiden. She steps back, yanking her head away from his touch and baring her teeth.
Don’t you dare. Be pissed at me if you want, but don’t fucking take it out on them.
“Beautiful, I just mean we need to get you outside somehow first,” he continues with the patience of a saint. “If one more of us turns in here, we’re going to bust out a wall, never mind trying to stuff four dragons into the room.”
She wavers, torn between all of the directions her instincts are pulling her. The urge to coax her mates’ dragons out, the danger still somewhere in the house, the cramped space confining her; all of which just leave her an agitated, confused mess.
“Kins already got hurt. You don’t want to do the same to Faye or Kaiden, do you?” Kahl gazes up at me without flinching, and the dominance he gives off pulls at her, overruling her scattered impulses and giving her something to focus on.
She turns our head in search of our injured mate, now seated in the doorway and clutching his thigh. It doesn’t look life threatening, but by the bloody piece of wood next to him, it appears part of the busted couch ended up impaling his leg during the chaos of my shift.
“Hey, I’m fine,” Kinsley scoffs. “Just toss my ass in the backyard and let the chomping commence.”
Carefully twisting so that we don’t knock Kahl out of commission, she faces Kins. With as much grace as a hulking beast can muster, she lies on her stomach, curling her wings and tail in on herself to be as small as possible. She rests our head on the floor rather than Kinsley’s lap, cheek pressing against the outside of his leg.
You’re making me look stupid. All this talk about not being a pet and you’re acting like a beaten puppy. There’s a middle ground between pouting and mauling someone’s face off, you know.
Kinsley runs a hand over the top of my head in a steady, soothing rhythm. “Hey, what’s the matter? Isn’t this what you wanted; to shift?” Obviously, we can’t answer him.
Kahl comes over and stretches out on my other side so that my head is nestled between them. “Want me to switch off with Kaid so he can come in here too?” Her sulking only increases, latching solely onto the part of the statement where Kahl volunteers to leave.
“Maybe she wants to be near all of us?” Kins suggests, but my dragon doesn’t jump at the idea or give any sign to indicate what’s crawled up her butt and made her upset.
“Last thing I think we want is to bring Ben in here and I don’t think leaving him alone is a great plan,” Kahl disputes.
Faye hesitantly creeps closer and I get a spark of annoyance that isn’t my own, turning my head to watch her every step. “You’re gorgeous,” she breathes, hand on her mouth and tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. “Absolutely perfect.”
She takes another step closer, but by the coiling of my muscles, it’s clear that my dragon still hasn’t warmed up to the girl and remembers she’s finally free to do something about it. The guys murmur sweet words at me, trying to pull her back before she can strike. But Faye stays out of our reach near the staircase where I have no hope of being able to maul her, giving herself a hasty exit if necessary.
Both men freeze beside me as my dragon cocks her head at the squeak of a floorboard, pivoting with a snarl before realizing it’s just Kaiden. He comes back into view with Ben’s arms bound behind his back and a gag in place.
“Compromise,” he flippantly declares, gesturing to the doctor. “But like hell I was going to miss something like this.” He shoves Ben onto his ass in the hallway in clear view from here, ignoring the destroyed room and crouching at my side. “What’s wrong with her?” he demands, running a palm over my folded wing and side, searching for an injury.
“No clue,” Kinsley responds, sounding just as worried.
But for a change, my dragon actually ignores my mate’s concern, drawn to Faye’s silent observation as she just stares at us with heartbreaking longing. There’s less animosity in my dragon’s interest this time, just tentative curiosity as she actually deigns to regard her.
