Page 79 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

Sir?

“Kalann, I take it,” I said, using the name Cade had mentioned.

“So, this is Cade’s supposed mate,” Kalann said, fiddling with a ring on one finger as he entered my field of view. “Not much to look at.”

I bristled, staring at the older dragon. His black hair was long, like all the dragons seemed to keep it, but it was losing its luster, and a streak of gray swept back from his right temple. That subtle signs of aging continued across his face, where an extra wrinkle here or there gave just enough clues about his age.

But it was his eyes that scared me most. Flat and lifeless, they sucked in all the warmth from the room, as if two tiny shards of ice stared back at me, threatening to drain the life from my soul.

They were the eyes of a killer.

A long, thin nose and matching set of lips were all shoved into a narrow face that crinkled with disdain. His chin was covered in a thin layer of hair, but even that couldn’t hide the slightly off-center cleft to it.

“Good thing I’m not here for your eyes then, isn’t it?” I drawled. “I’m sure I’ll do fine for your wallets, though. Or so you say.”

Kalann laughed. It was hollow.

“Just so human. Just so.”

He managed to turn the word into an insult without overdoing it. It was so casual and assumed that even I almost found myself nodding along with him in agreement.

“And before you say it, he will pay,” Kalann added. “My associate here is right. Cade is in love with you and wants you. He’ll sign over the gold mine without a thought. Then you two can go do whatever it is you wish. Our debt will be settled.”

I had my doubts it would be that easy, but they were overshadowed by the constant talk of love. Of Cade.

A tendril of thought flickered to the scale on my back and the faint connection in my mind. I’d pushed it away, kept it at arm’s length, but now it came creeping back in. Faint and unclear. Like an old TV that needed its rabbit ear antennae adjusted. All I had to do was reach out and touch it. Give it the extra juice it needed.

However, doing so would link me to Cade for life. Was that what I wanted?

Images of Cade flashed through my mind. Holding a mug of coffee, prepared the way I liked. An eager smile upon his face as he hauled me off to show me the picnic he’d arranged in secret for my birthday. The little glances I caught him giving me when he thought I wasn’t looking.

The subtle rasp of his facial hair against my skin as he kissed me. His arms embracing me, holding me tight. Protecting me.

His arm sweeping me behind him every time danger had arisen. Without thought or worry for his own well-being. Like when the bear had come for us. He’d single-handedly wrestled the beast away like some crazed back-country Russian.

Then I thought of how I felt during it all. The way he made my body tingle. Not just sexually, either. But when he smiled at me, the butterflies in my stomach danced, and the hairs on my arms came alive. My heart raced when he was near, and it was empty when he was gone.

“Holy shit.” The truth hit me like a runaway train.

Both Kalann and Reed glanced at me, their hushed conversation momentarily forgotten.

Ignoring them, I closed my eyes and delved into my own mind, seeking the new thing that had been there ever since I’d awoken. It was like an egg, a cocoon. Waiting.

Taking a deep breath, the truth of what I’d realized on my lips, I reached into the warmth with my mind.

The world went white. I screamed in sudden agony as the scale, previously attached to me, now adhered itself to my skin, burning itself in, molding and melding with my very nerve endings and becoming truly a part of me. My back arched in the chair and then bowed as I fought the pain.

“What’s she doing?” Reed bellowed over the roar in my ears. “What the hell is going on? Is she dying?”

Kalann’s response was drowned out by the onrushing wave of sound that pummeled my brain.

Then a presence was there. Shielding me. Protecting me from the pain and the sound. Wrapping its wings around me.

The blanket of Cade’s mind draped itself over me, and for a blissful instant, everything stopped.

I slumped forward, blackness claiming me unexpectedly.

Water splashed across my front, and I jerked upright with a howl as the cold liquid sent a shock through me.

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