Dralle's Bride (Crystal Glass Dragons 4)

We were sitting in the conference room where she’d pulled my brothers and cousins one by one, and it was finally my turn. I was ready to meet the woman I was destined for. My relatives had found love, and although I didn’t think I could get that far, I knew I’d have to find something suitable.

“She’s fiery and passionate about her family,” the Seer answered. “She’s also a Seer and a wolf shifter,” she added.

“A Seer?”

“She knows you and has for some time,” the Seer admitted. Her eyes darted away from me, under her white hair, like there was something more she wasn’t saying. It felt almost like she saw someone else in the room with us.

Seers could be bizarre, though. I’d been warned about that since back when I was a kid.

“What does she know about me?”

“How you look and what your future together may look like.”

She was vague, but I’d already received more information than any of my relatives did about their partners before they found them.

“I can’t wait to get her pregnant; I still have a chance at the throne,” I sighed. It was an out-of-pocket thing to say to an older woman, but I was ready.

When the Seer said Heather was fiery, I expected red hair and sass: but seeing her take ownership of herself and push over that asshole opened my eyes.

This wasn’t some woman who expected to be doted over and spoiled.

She was her own person.

It excited me, and I wanted to be what she wanted as well.

Despite my past, I was ready to move on with the next chapter of my life.

I wanted to be what she wanted so that I could steal her away to a life where she didn’t have to deal with terrible customers or dip her hands in grease to get a paycheck. Anything she wanted, I wanted to offer it.

Letting her know that would be a mistake, though.

I wasn’t going to act desperate.

I needed to woo her.

Even though I promised myself I wasn’t going to approach her again for a couple more days, I wanted her. It almost no longer mattered that the first to have a child in my generation would be the ruler of our kingdom.

I just wanted her.

Heading back down to her shop, I checked the air to determine if she was alone again. Her brothers seemed to vanish every afternoon for a couple of hours, and I wasn’t sure where they went. I could track them if I wanted to, but I’d instead enjoy the time I got to have her alone.

Heading into the shop in my human form, I was surprised to hear music playing as she walked through the stock section at the back of the shop. Notebook in hand, she was counting out how much of everything she had: and more importantly, she was swinging and swaying to the music.

Her shorts showed off her incredible legs, and as she swayed, her shirt gave away the secret curves she was hiding beneath it. As much as she tried to act like she was one of the guys, she was entirely woman. The music was loud enough that she didn’t even notice me there.

I got closer and watched as she reached up to tug down a box.

The urge to come up behind her, rest my hands on her hips, and dance with her was strong: but the box was unsteady.

She sliced her hand on something inside of it.

“Ow, shit,” she hissed.

I stepped back quietly.

Her blood spilled onto the floor of the garage, and I could smell it.

Rushing further back into the shop, as she turned on a sink and grabbed paper towels.

It wasn’t deep.

She’d be fine.

My own blood was surging, though.

It made me physically nauseous, my senses sharpened, and there was a hunger in me I’d worked so hard to quell. My mouth was slick hunger, a need to bite, tear, kill: but I couldn’t do that anymore. I wasn’t the same person my father had tried to turn me into.

Not around her.

I couldn’t be that version of me around her, ever.