Page 50 of Beautiful Beast

“Aren’t you?” Suddenly his hand was in the loose strands of my hair, gripping, tilting my face back to meet golden eyes shot through with that white-hot blue. “Any of us could kill you with half a thought.”

“Return my blade and we’ll see about that.”

He smiled, the edge to it making my stomach flip in both good and bad ways. “A blade won’t stop me, Princess. I’d melt it before you could take a step.

I moved, and he grabbed my wrist, heat flowing through it. So much heat, our connection glowed. Heat that should have burned and instead did something else entirely. “Let me go.”

“As you wish.”

He released me, staring at the place he’d touched me and watching the glow fade.

I looked at each of them, my traitorous eyes drinking in the fact that Endre had removed the ruined shirt and now stood with his chest bare, even as he moved slowly with what looked like exhaustion. It brought an entirely different kind of heat. The skin of his lower torso shifted colors into something paler and shimmering like moonstone. I tried desperately not to stare.

“Is this how the dragons rule, then? Not only with power, but with fear?”

“You’re far too intelligent for that to be a real question,” Endre said with a chuckle. “And despite your anger, you know what we did was necessary.”

“Do I?” I snapped. “They intended for something bad to happen, and it did not. Binding them to power so they cannot touch me, I understand. Sentencing them to a living death, I do not.”

“Perhaps you have more of a death wish than I thought,” Endre said. “If you can’t see why it was needed.”

I threw up my hands, striding to the fire and staring him down across the open flames. “They can never touch me. You made sure of it. But you’ve also ensured her hatred of me and all humans. It will not stop.”

“NO IT WON’T.” Endre blazed with anger, and he was in front of me so quickly I couldn’t breathe. “It will never stop. You think we don’t know that?”

A laugh filled with darkness that leaked from him and brought sorrow to me. “You are the one who does not understand, Katalena.” My name was a dart aimed straight to the chest. “Sparing one dragon’s wings will not stem the tide of hatred of your kind. It will only teach them they can continue to hate without consequence.” The last word fell from him like it was a weight. He backed me around the couches and against the wall. It all felt familiar, and so different now that I was faced with nothing but his skin.

My hands itched to touch him and fulfill my wish. I resisted.

“I don’t hate humans.” The words raised goosebumps on my skin. “Stars know I should because you took everything from us.” With his traitor’s scar so close, I heard what he didn’t say. From me.

“Nothing we do will stop dragons from hating your kind. So we do what we can, when we can, to help. Including making an example of those who would harm you for sport.”

I swallowed. We do what we can.

“My grandmother used to say that,” I whispered. “That we do what we can.”

“Then she was wise.”

My breath was shallow in my chest, making my voice thin. I sounded like the sighs I’d heard down alleys I never should have been near in Rensara. “You told me you weren’t a good male, but those you describe are the actions of one.”

“Would you like to test that theory?” He leaned so close, but still didn’t touch me. “Good actions don’t make a good male. And scenting you in my shirt has left me with one thread that’s ready to snap.”

Over his shoulder, Zovai was there, agreeing. “My scent wrapped around your legs?”

A single glance at Sirrus told me he felt the same, though I wore none of his clothing.

Endre blew out a shuddering breath and reached for me. His hands cupped my face, and he pulled me to him, our foreheads touching. I couldn’t stop the soft gasp from my lips or the way my body swayed toward him. Toward them.

“No matter my words, we are beyond resistance, Lena. Say the word and we will ruin you so thoroughly no human man will ever satisfy you. Not even a prince.”

“We?”

An arm snaked around my waist, stealing me away from Endre and the wall. Zovai had me in his arms, and I couldn’t think or breathe. I’d never been touched like this by anyone, let alone a male. It was full of promise and intent.

“Do humans not follow the old ways any longer?”

“I don’t—” my eyes fluttered shut, everything in me reveling in what it was like to be held. The simplicity and the wanting that led to the more I couldn’t imagine.

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