Her Dragon Captor (Her Dragon King Duet 1)

I tilt my own damn head right back at him. “Seriously, 15000 years old and you still never heard of foreplay? It’s a human concept going pretty far back.”

That haughty look I haven’t seen in a while comes back. “As I said, I do not concern myself with the affairs of catt—I mean, humans.”

But then his expression softens, and he says, “However if this foreplay will convince your female works to grant me entry as they did before, I am happy to learn and execute the concept most thoroughly. You are my queen, and I would rather forego my own pleasure than cause you a moment of discomfort.”

His words melt my new reservations away. He at least corrected himself when he started to call the humans cattle. That’s progress, right? And to be fair, he’s not the only man who’s come into a sexual relationship without a clue. At least he has an excuse…and the will to learn.

“Please instruct me in the ways of foreplay,” he says now.

“Well, um, it can be a lot of things. But usually, people start with kissing, then level up to touching and licking.”

“Yes, I let him kiss you, but stayed his body when he thought to do other things with you. Would you like me to do the things I wouldn’t let him do?”

It takes me a moment to register who “him” is. Akwasi. “Just how far into his head were you?” I ask, feeling some kind of way. It seems nothing in the relationship I’d thought was leading to marriage was any kind of real.

“He initiated the first contact and then asked for your access codes. When one of my thralls reported this invitation, I decided to use it to my advantage.” Damianos answers, tone simple. Like taking over somebody’s head was the obvious conclusion to that problem.

“So you feel bad about all the things you’ve done to me, but not what you did to him? And all your other mind slaves?”

He looks at me and answers, “You matter. They do not.”

“You think it’s up to you to decide I matter, and they don’t?” I sit up on my forearms, the warm, sexy feelings definitely fading. “Like, you really think you’re God.”

“Why would you compare me to the supposed deity you believe designed your race? If he was a drakkon, he would have done a much better job.”

No, he didn’t just say that. I open my mouth to tell him all the way off. But before I can, he says, “And as for you mattering most of all to me—that was not a decision, Reverence. As much as I tried to fight it, you became the only one who truly mattered the moment you made my male works drop.”

“So, it’s all my fault you’re obsessed with me?”

“Yes,” he answers, his expression somewhat baffled. “Who else’s fault would it be?”

I look away, trying to figure out how to respond to that…to him.

“I have distressed your flame. Please tell me why so that I might fix it.”

“I don’t know if you can,” I answer, dropping my eyes. “I’m trying to wrap my head around all of this. You’re a sociopath who’s obsessed with me. And now I’m in your bed.”

“Does this mean you do not wish me to do those things to you?” he asks into my pensive silence.

“It should,” I reply , finally looking up. “But, it doesn’t. And I don’t know why.”

“Yes, I am seeing that now,” he says. “You never understood the reason for us. The absolute genetic certainty that we should be mates. I thought sending the basketball player for your first long-term relationship would properly prepare you for me. But I should have done more to explain it to you. The fating portals are a feat of great quantum design. When they make a mate match, there can be no doubt that the two candidates are meant to be. That is not magic or romance. It is a basic immutable fact. It does not matter that I am a sociopath as you called me or that you are an overly emotional she-wolf. There is no one else for us. I wish you had understood this. I wish it more than anything.”

I shake my head at him. “But we’re not fated mates. Neither of us went through the portal.”

“I know that we are fated mates. I know it like a human baby knows to breathe air. And there is no need for a trip through the fertility portal for me to be certain. Ola, my queen, you matter to me. You are the only wolf mutation or anthro on this planet who matters to me. I will never apologize for that.”

He’d never apologize for that. And suddenly I don’t want him to. I don’t want to think about the past. Or worry about the future. Or even talk.