Her Dragon King (Her Dragon King Duet 2)

Her words still my flame. She…she is paying me reverence with this bath? My immediate impulse is to open my mouth and tell her how greatly honored I am to receive such reverent attention from her.

But then I remember…

She could destroy everything. Ruin every plan I’ve ever had, including the one that has burned within me longer than any other. My revenge.

No, I cannot give in to the urge to speak reverence to her. I must resist.

I grit my shaven teeth through the rest of the bath and let out a steamed snort of relief when she finally finishes and sets the pot aside. Somehow, I managed to keep my male works from—

“What are you doing?” I find myself demanding again when without any warning at all she climbs into bed and curves her body into mine.

“Snuggling,” she answers, throwing an arm over my upper torso and laying her head upon my shoulder. “That was something else Other You liked. A lot.”

Snuggling…the word, despite its cuteness slices into me like that butcher knife I came to know so well. For she is right. I do like this snuggling. Too much. The feel of her soft and warm against my side…the unexpected skin to skin touch…. my primary seeder hardens and my secondary one squirms, both threatening to eject themselves from my stomach.

I glue my eyes to the wall screen, though I can hardly comprehend the words the narrator is saying over images of wholly inaccurate gladiator costumes.

“Are you thirsty?” Ola asks, saving me from having to come up with more commentary.

“No,” I answer shortly.

“I was going to try to get a bottle of that tsipouro Greek brandy you like, but that was a line too far for my uncles,” Ola says. “And they’re in charge of the shopping list since I have to keep my biosystem off if we don’t want everyone else in my family to descend on the house. I still haven’t figured out a way to tell my parents I’m mated now. To you. And a mom to their latest flying dragon-werewolf grandkid.”

So her fathers had not yet been told about her reappearance yet. Or that she was now my mate. These facts should please me. Less interfering parties to deal with when I imprison her again.

Yet, it does just the opposite. Instead of calming with the cold plans, I am quietly making, my mind spikes with the need to claim her again. To declare to her fathers and everyone else that she is the mother of my hatchling and therefore belongs to me.

“It is not right that you keep my hatchling from me,” I tell her, my flame burning dark.

“Yeah, not right…that’s what I said when you kidnapped my ass. Then refused to go get a wolf doctor when I went into heat. It took Other You a while to convince me to let him hit it again after that. I mean, a while and a rescue, but that’s a story for another day.”

“Hit it again?” I say after sifting through her confusing words. “Is that a euphemism for sex?”

“I don’t know what’s weirder. You always asking whether something that’s obviously a euphemism for sex is a euphemism for sex. Or me being, like, totally used to it after three months.”

“So it is true. You had sex with him? An activity beyond the hand stroking you gave to me?” I am not sure whether my flame burns baffled, jealous, or aroused as I ask this question.

She makes a snorting sound that could double as a derisive laugh. “We were stuck in a cabin, just the two of us,” she answers. “All we did was eat, fuck, and watch docs on tv. Sometimes all at the same time—well, hello there.”

My flame burns shameful and hot as she sits up to look directly at the male works that have suddenly erupted from my scaling, despite my earlier resolve. My primary cock stands upright, pulsing so hard, seed drips from the tip. Meanwhile the secondary cock squirms in the air, frantic with need.

Ola looks back at me with a smug, knowing smile. “Looks like your friends got a little excited hearing about what we got up to in that cabin.”

Yes, unfortunately, I now know exactly how I feel about her time with Other Me in the cabin, and it is a true dialectic. I am uncontrollably aroused by the thought of her and me coming together outside of breeding. I am also consumed with jealousy and the need to claim her as mine and mine alone.

But I am powerless to act on either urge, shackled as I am.

I hate this. I hate this need. This vulnerability.

“Do you want me to help you with those?” she asks.

I inwardly jolt. For her lips are no longer moving against my chest. Her voice…it is inside my head. Our mate bond truly does work in every way. I remember now how I had heard her voice so clearly in that basement. How I called back to her with my own mind.