Page 77 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

I spun at the sudden voice from behind. I hadn’t heard the speaker approach.

“Heir,” I said, bowing my head respectfully to Vicek, the heir to the dragon kingdom.

The sovereign’s only son.

“Cade,” Vicek responded in greeting, glancing over my shoulder. “My hands are as tied as hers are, Damon, and you know it.”

Damon scoffed. “You brought home a human mate. I’m fairly certain you’re past the stage of caring.”

Vicek grinned. “In some ways, yes. But this is pushing it. Even if Kalann is someone she would like … dealt with.”

I looked back and forth between the two dragons. “I will go alone, then.”

“It’ll kill you,” Damon said.

My eyes bore into his. “What would you have me do? Stand down? Let them continue to harm her? I don’t think so. What would you do?”

“Whatever it took,” Damon said.

“Exactly. Which is what I will do. What good am I as her mate if I don’t? How will she ever be able to love me if I don’t try to get her back?”

Damon bared his teeth in fierce approval.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “Where are they holding her?”

Grimacing, I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn’t certain.

But as I did, a new awareness blossomed in my mind. A fullness, a connectivity I hadn’t had before.

My dragon surged forward, crowing in victory as it realized what had happened.

Samantha.

She was mine now. I knew it, and now, she’d apparently accepted it, too.

“That way,” I growled with deadly fury, my eyes fixed on the nearby wall, and what I knew lay somewhere far beyond it.

There was no time to waste. Leaving the others behind, I strode from the throne room and headed for the roof.

I’m coming for you, Sam. I’m coming.

And nobody was going to stop me.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Samantha

“Oh, wipe that look of sad distress off your face.” Reed sneered as he sat on the edge of a nearby table. “You have nothing to worry about.”

I glanced down at the bonds strapping my arms so tightly to the chair they were slowing circulation to my arms. My feet were similarly restrained.

“It’s just to make sure you don’t cause any trouble,” he said impatiently. “You’re our insurance. What will make us richer than ever before.”

“You really think he’s going to pay extra for me?” I scoffed. “I’m just a human to him. I was but a means to an end. Now that he has another way of getting his gold, he has no need for me. He’ll take it and run.”

A shiver ran up my spine as I spoke, giving voice and substance to the thoughts that had been racing around my mind like a tornado. Spinning and spinning. Never stopping. No peace. Not since Cade had told me the truth about—

Reed’s laughter interrupted my self-reflection.

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