“I AM BREATHING,” she snapped.
“No,” he corrected gently. “You are wheezing rage.”
I tried to step back. Ten warriors stepped forward. I was going to die. Again.
Always. My gaze found Queen Wren, who looked at me andburnedwith rage.
“Down,” she said quietly, but every male draken—including myself—was slammed to the ground, unable to move. Even Benedict. The breath was knocked out of my lungs.
The females hovered uncertainly.
Kaida landed behind her, wings rattling the stalactites. “Someone explain before she faints again.”
“I DO NOT FAINT,” Wren growled.
Benedict raised his hand from his spot on the ground. “She faints sometimes.”
“BENEDICT!” Wren yelled.
“M’just saying?—”
“BENEDICT!”
He shut up, whether by choice or force, it was unclear.
Kaida strolled right up to me, sniffed my face like an irritated aunt checking if I’d rolled in something dead, then announced, “He smells like rope and panic, not mating. Calm down.”
Wren winced, holding her stomach. “I am not in the mood for bullshit.”
Enya scuffed her claws in the dirt. The reclusive females radiated irritation. “We’ve been trying to tell them.”
Nerissa blinked. “Tell them what?—?”
“We sparred,” Mara said.
“And hedidn’ttry to mate us,” Yazmine added.
“Not even a little,” Mara said cheerfully. “He’s practically a monk.”
I sputtered through the blood dripping down my nose. “I am NOT!”
The entire island turned to stare at me.
I reconsidered. “… I don’t THINK I am.”
Wren sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of her nose with the weariness of a mother who had birthed twins and was now dealing with a full-grown island of idiots. “OK. Everyone calm down. If Veskor wanted to mate someone, we would know. He’s loud.”
My entire face burst into flames. “I’m not?—!”
“LOUD,” Kieran emphasized helpfully. “Very loud. Like when he swallowed that crab wrong?—”
“You promised never to speak of that,” I growled.
Kaida slapped my shoulder so hard I stumbled. “Relax. You’re fine.”
Wren took a deep breath. “You all may rise. If you promise to act like adults, and not restless draklings. And fuckingapologizeto Veskor for beating the shit out of him.”
I twitched, uncomfortable with the very notion of an apology. Canavar stepped forward, exhaling a long, pained breath.
