The Dragon's Pursuit (Lochguard Highland Dragons 7)

He stated proudly, "I have many, many times."

Since Chase's older brother was a co-head Protector for Lochguard, in charge of clan security, she could just imagine the quiet, growly male putting up with his brother's teasing. "You know, I always wanted a younger brother growing up, but now I'm not so sure. You lot tend to make your older siblings' life miserable."

He grinned. "I like to think it's more of me relaxing Grant a bit. All the responsibility he has takes its toll. And while many people are afraid or cower a bit before him, he's just my brother." He tilted his head a fraction. "I'm sure your sister teased you the same way, aye?"

People rarely talked about Layla's younger sister. Yasmin had succumbed to her parents' pressure for an arranged mating with a dragonman in Iran, where her mother's family had originally come from. No one had heard from her in years.

Not wanting to think of Yasmin and how much Layla missed her sister, she changed the subject. "Come on, it's late. Let's go before someone bursts through the front doors with an emergency."

She walked past Chase, careful not to touch him. Not touching him would be the easy part, though. For some reason, he made her want to talk about things she never talked about, like about her younger sister. And she couldn't acknowledge how nice it was to be merely a dragonwoman and not a doctor, a female with her own family, past, and troubles.

Her dragon growled. You spend all your time making others happy, but we deserve it, too. Chase could be the future we need.

Not in the mood to argue yet again with her beast, she quickly tossed her dragon inside a mental prison.

Layla had decided her life's path long ago, and she'd chosen medicine, end of story. Besides, once she made a decision, it was hard to change her mind. And why would she want to? She had the power to heal and help nearly as many people as the clan leader.

All she needed to do was survive a short while alone with Chase and then she could distract herself with work again.

So she walked faster toward her destination, not even checking to see if Chase followed her or not. The sooner she finished this task, the sooner she could move on to the next one and, once again, push all thoughts of the male from her head.

As Chase McFarland followed Layla down the corridor, he couldn't help but stare at her arse. True, it was hidden underneath her lab coat, but Chase had her entire body and all of its curves memorized.

It was what any male would do with the true mate he may never have.

Dragon-shifters hit full maturity at twenty. And the day after his twentieth birthday, Chase had taken one look at Layla MacFie and had been hit with an all-consuming need and desire, wanting the one female above all others. He'd fought it at first, but soon acknowledged the inevitable—Layla was his true mate, the one fate thought to be his best chance at happiness.

Over the last two years, he'd somehow found the strength to resist kissing her and start a mate-claim frenzy that would only end with a pregnancy. And while some males would give in to their dragon's constant demands and face the consequences later, Chase would never be that person. That exact same situation had caused his aunt and uncle a lifetime of misery, and he would never do that to a female.

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His dragon huffed. We are not our uncle. Besides, recently Layla has been noticing us more and may not resist. Tell her the truth. I'm tired of waiting.

Two years ago, Chase had tried to suggest to his inner beast about finding another female. His dragon had roared and nearly gone rogue at the idea. He wanted Layla, and only her.

And so that was how Chase had learned self-control and patience, which had matured him much faster than any of his friends or others his age.

He replied to his dragon, No. I tried being charming, visiting her, and pursuing her like you wanted. That didn't work. Now we're doing it my way.

His dragon huffed. It means more waiting. And proving ourself to her may not be enough. She needs a wee bit of encouragement. Especially since she's stubborn, to the point she'll hold on to her chosen path, no matter the bloody consequences toward her own well-being.

Sometimes, Chase hated how closely his dragon had paid attention to Layla over the years. It made it harder to win an argument about the lass.

But he wasn't giving up. She needs our help right now. Even you can't deny her that, aye? So no more sex fantasies or blasts of lust. No matter what you may think, our cock can't install security cameras.

It'd be fun to try. Maybe it'd even impress Layla. If we could do that, just imagine what we could do to her when she was naked.

He resisted a sigh. Everyone gave Chase a hard time about being a cheeky troublemaker, but they didn't know his dragon could be loads worse.

Thankfully Layla stopped in front of a door, and his beast curled into a ball with a grunt. He'd watch and probably fall asleep while Chase fulfilled their promise to Layla.

Honorable dragons always kept their promises, and not for the first time, Chase was happy as fuck that his beast was one of them, unlike his bastard father.

Careful to keep a smile on his face and not let his thoughts show, he stopped a little closer than was proper to Layla. Her breath hitched, but he managed to keep his cock in line as he asked, "In here then?"

For a second, Layla's beautiful dark brown eyes stared into his, her pupils flashing to slits and back to round once more. He'd never managed to have a conversation with her dragon, and not for the first time, he wondered if her beast was on Team Chase or not.

Layla cleared her throat and took a step back. His every instinct was to follow her, but he held his ground. Chase would stick to his plan to prove his worth as a future mate, no matter what. Layla may be stubborn and strong-willed, but so was he.